ISLAMABAD, Feb 25: The Senate standing committee on education has asked the institutions of higher learning to strictly follow the criteria/guidelines laid down by the Higher Education Commission.

The committee met here on Saturday under the chairmanship of Senator Razina Alam Khan and discussed the HEC’s plan of action regarding private universities.

The HEC authorities informed the committee that the federal cabinet in its meeting approved the criteria/guidelines for establishment of a new university/institution of higher education 2002 and decided that existing universities/institutions would be granted a grace period of five years to meet the criteria.

They said the HEC would take appropriate action against those institutions which violated the criteria after completion of the grace period.

The committee was told that a proper categorization of private universities/degree awarding institutions was made after first inspection in November 2004, while the second one was carried out in December 2005 which was also advertised in newspapers for public information.

Regarding HEC programmes in the earthquake hit areas, the committee was informed that the infrastructure of universities in AJK and Hazara regions was totally destroyed in the October 8 earthquake.

The officials said the HEC shifted the AJK University to Islamabad where regular classes had started from February 13. They said a project worth Rs38 million had been approved for building temporary infrastructure of the Hazara University.

Moreover, as per president’s directives students of the earthquake affected areas studying in universities/degree awarding institutions of the country have been exempted from fee for one year. The committee was also informed about the PhD and postdoctoral programmes of the HEC.

HEC upgrades 2 institutes: The Higher Education Commission (HEC) has notified the upgradation of Beaconhouse National University, Lahore and Karachi, and PAF Karachi Institute of Economics and Technology, Karachi.

The category of both the institutions has been upgraded from category “Y” to “X”.

The decision has been made on the basis of detailed information provided by both institutions towards meeting the minimum cabinet criteria requirements in the form of academic, financial and physical infrastructure.