May 4, 2005	Wednesday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 24, 1426

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ISLAMABAD, May 3: The Higher Education Commission (HEC) on Tuesday constituted a committee headed by a former judge of the Supreme Court to look into the issue of fake degrees, an official statement said. Headed by Justice (retired) Nasir Aslam Zahid, the committee would receive complaints from institutions as well as individuals regarding fake degrees, and act accordingly.

The decision to form the committee was taken by the HEC chairman, Dr Attaur Rehman. The committee will determine magnitude of the problem and come up with a strategy to tackle all related issues.

It would also ensure that degrees awarded by various universities were in conformity with their charters. It is worth mentioning here that in the recent past, the issue of dubious degrees hit headlines when a well-known member of the graduate National Assembly was alleged to have a fake degree.

A number of cases are also pending with courts in which people have challenged the degrees of MNAs and MPAs.

Presently, the Accreditation and Attestation cell of the HEC provides attestation and equivalence services on receipt of request from a degree holder or departments.

Diplomas and transcripts awarded by the chartered universities and institutions, in both public and private sectors, are also attested by HEC.

The commission also issues certificates to determine the equivalence of degrees and diplomas issued by accredited universities and institutions. The determination of equivalence of credentials at secondary and higher secondary level is primarily the responsibility of the Inter-Board Committee of Chairmen.

The committee will work in close coordination with the recently set up Quality Assurance Committee (QAC) of the commission.

The QAC is headed by former GIK Institute rector Prof Abdul Raouf, currently working with the Institute of Management and Technology, Lahore. Other members include vice-chancellors of various public and private sector universities as well as HEC executive director, and adviser on quality assurance and learning innovation.

The QAC had already developed a comprehensive framework for award of M.Phil and PhD degrees that will be applicable to all degrees to be awarded in future.