ISLAMABAD, July 6: The Higher Education Commission (HEC) has again warned the degree-awarding universities to follow the laid- down criterion in terms of faculty and infrastructure development, otherwise their degrees will not be accepted. The issue was raised during the 8th meeting of the HEC on higher education here on Wednesday with Chairman Prof Attaur Rahman in the chair. Issues related to governance, quality assurance, academics and administrative matters also came under discussion during the meeting.

Using the power of recognition of degrees, which are vested in the HEC, the commission will not recognize the degrees of such universities which have failed to come up to the criteria laid down by the cabinet in the year 2002, Dr Rehman said.

It is worth-mentioning here that the federal cabinet in February, 2002 had set a deadline of five years for the degree- awarding universities to meet the criterion, failing which their charters would be withdrawn.

The commission decided that assurance of quality enhancement measures and guidelines would be the thrust area in all HEC programmes. In this respect, it has been decided that the commission will recognize the PhD degrees of only those universities which will strictly follow the minimum criteria laid down by the HEC.

It will also not recognize any PhD degree awarded under a substandard programme. The criterion has been prepared by the Quality Assurance Committee (QAC) setup under the auspices of the HEC.

The commission decided that governance issues will be taken seriously. The development and recurring grants released to the universities will be linked to their observance of governance rules laid down by the HEC including appointment and promotion of faculty, adoption of PhD programme, adoption of Tenure Track System, quality assurance etc. The commission will slash the grants of the institutions violating these criteria and suspend their development programmes.

The commission decided that the private sector universities working on non-profit basis may also be allowed to benefit from the HEC programmes including research fellowships, competitive research grants and access to digital library.

They can also benefit from the foreign faculty hiring programme of the HEC but on matching grants basis. The precise modalities of support to private sector universities is being worked out in consultation with the planning and finance divisions.

Briefing the members on the recent initiatives of the HEC, Dr Rehman emphasized that quality assurance, particularly in the indigenous PhD programmes, was being given top priority.

“There would be no compromise on the quality of education, research and standards for the award of degrees, as our main objective is to bring the higher education sector on a par with the international standards,” he said.

The HEC chairman said some universities were grossly violating the quality criteria laid down for indigenous PhD programmes which might lead to deterioration of education standards.

The meeting was attended by Dr Akram Sheikh, Deputy Chairman Planning Commission; Lt Gen S. Shujaat Hussain, Rector National University of Sciences & Technology, Rawalpindi; Lt Gen Muhammad Akram Khan, Vice Chancellor University of Engg. & Tech., Lahore; Nazir Saeed, Special Secretary (Higher Education), Government of the Punjab, Lahore; Dr Anwar Nasim, Adviser Science COMSTECH, Islamabad; Prof (Dr) Maqsood Ali, Principal Garrison Academy, Balochistan, Quetta; Prof (Dr) Abdul Matin, Prof (Dr) M. Qasim Jan, ex-vice-chancellor Peshawar University; Kh. Zaheer Ahmad, Secretary Ministry of Science & Technology, Islamabad; Dr. Nighat Agha, Senator, Prof Saadia Chishti and Dr. S. Sohail Naqvi, Executive Director HEC.