ISLAMABAD, Dec 23: The Higher Education Commission (HEC) has approved the establishment of a National Computing Education Accreditation Council (NCEAC) to have a check on computing programmes offered in the country.

The initiative is part of a plan to improve the quality of higher education, said an official statement on Thursday. The establishment of the council was recommended by the ministry of information technology and telecommunication aimed to meet the needs of the software/IT industry, parents and the public seeking information about programmes in computer science, information technology, software engineering, etc.

Accreditation protects and promotes the interest of all stakeholders: parents, students, faculty, administrators, employers and taxpayers. It is essential that the institutions offering programmes in the computing discipline adhere to an internationally acceptable and industrially viable set of criteria.

The council will be responsible for the accreditation of educational programmes leading to degrees in the computing disciplines. It will annually publish a ranking of all the programmes being conducted by various institutions.

The establishment of the council had been proposed by the National Curriculum Review Committee of Computer Science with representation from all the public and private sector universities.

The council will have representatives of the software industry, Pakistan Software Houses Association, Software Export Board, provincial governments, ministries of science and technology, information technology and telecommunications, the HEC as well as subject experts in the relevant areas.

It will constitute inspection committees to visit each institution and will carry out an academic audit based on internationally accepted criteria for accreditation.