14 February 2004	Saturday	22 Zilhaj 1424

KARACHI, Feb 13: The Higher Education Commission's request to the University of Karachi for introducing a four-year (Honours) bachelor's degree programme has been criticized by academicians as well as students , who apprehend that it will harm the quality of education instead of improving it.

Commenting on reports regarding the HEC request, several KU faculty members and students argued on Friday that the four-year degree would further discourage students, majority of whom had to quit their studies after intermediate level.

HEC's Human Resource and Strategic Development department, through a letter last month, reportedly proposed to the KU authorities to launch a four-year (Hons) bachelor's degree programme in various disciplines on the pattern of some public and private varsities of the country.

The critics of the proposal claimed that only 2.5 per cent of the students passing their intermediate examinations, join professional colleges and varsities for acquiring higher education in the country.

"Owing to unavailability of job-oriented degree courses offered at our colleges and varsities, the number of students, especially of the male ones, is rapidly declining," they said, adding that by doubling the duration of bachelor's degree course, majority of the students would not prefer to go for the four-year degree course.

A KU faculty member, commenting on the proposal, was of the view that although the five-year Bachelors of Engineering (BE) degree and the four-year B Pharmacy degree, offered by varsities, were very popular among the students, still majority of them would not like the idea of increasing bachelor degree's duration.

"Already bachelors and masters in social sciences and majority of natural science subjects, including physiology, zoology, botany, geography and geology, are loosing attraction for students," he said, apprehending that with the extended duration, the number of male students in bachelor's degree courses would decline to a considerable extent.

He said that percentage of female students at the KU was touching 70 per cent, while the male students were preferring admissions into other professional educational institutions owing to a lack of job-oriented courses by the varsity.

Commenting on the proposal, Nazim KU Islami Jamiat Talaba Syed Noman Ahmed, called it a "destructive step" for higher education. He claimed that the teachers and students of the KU, through holding protest demonstrations, had rejected the proposal. -PPI