KARACHI: The academic council of Karachi University (KU) unanimously decided on Thursday to continue with its bachelors’ and masters’ programmes for the time being and set up a committee to look into the phase-wise implementation of programmes proposed by the Higher Education Commission (HEC).

It also decided to postpone implementation of the two-year associate degree programme till June next year.

The meeting chaired by KU acting Vice Chancellor Prof Khalid M. Iraqi was held at the Arts Auditorium.

The decision, sources said, was very much in line with the consensus that had recently emerged at a meeting of vice chancellors organised by the HEC where it was decided that the VC committee would deliberate on the phase-wise implementation of the two-year associate degree programme and four-year undergraduate programme.

The VCs, sources said, expressed concern over the recommendations and said it would not be possible to implement the new policy this year, asking for additional time to do so in a more effective manner.

The KU committee to suggest implementation of HEC’s proposed programmes is to be chaired by dean faculty of education Prof Nasir Sulman and will comprise Prof Anila Amber Malik, Prof Intikhab Ulfat, Prof Samina Saeed, Prof Maqsood Ali Ansari, Prof Taseer Ahmed Khan and Prof Nadeem Mahmood as members.

The university later in the day released a press release according to which members of the academic council also condemned the statement issued “by a group of college teachers in which they blamed the KU acting vice chancellor Prof Khalid Iraqi for deliberately not announcing the admissions to BA, BSc, BCom, and MA programmes in colleges.”

The academic council, it said, observed that the decisions were taken in light of HEC policies and the University of Karachi was waiting for a clarification from the HEC on various matters. It might be recalled that the HEC’s proposed four-year undergraduate and two-year associate degree programme had been widely opposed on university campuses.

Teachers were of the opinion that the associate degree programme would eliminate undergraduate programmes at universities and also deprive students of middle and lower classes of the option to pursue a degree programme privately.

Published in Dawn, July 9th, 2021