ISLAMABAD, Feb 2: The proprietors of private universities are using pressure tactics through various means to stay off the list of educational institutions not following the criteria laid down by the Higher Education Commission (HEC), sources told Dawn.

The HEC has been placing “Parents Alert” advertisements in national newspapers, giving a list of those universities which do not meet the federal cabinet’s criteria. This is being done to make parents aware of the fact that charters of a large number of universities will be withdrawn in February 2007, and they will be converted into affiliated colleges as unanimously decided by the chancellors of all universities.

Talking to Dawn, a commission official said: “The private universities, however, are putting pressure on the chancellors — provincial governors — to somehow not implement the decision made by the president and the prime minister, so that they can continue to function without any checks.”

Everyday, the officials concerned of the HEC receive telephone calls from various quarters to remove the name of a certain university from the advertisement, the source said.

However, the source said, following the directives of the prime minister, the commission was continuously resisting such pressure tactics.

But the steps taken by the HEC to ensure quality need to be fully supported by the provincial governments to avoid perpetuation of mediocre institutions, the source said.

The mushrooming of substandard universities granted charters by provincial governments has done much damage to the higher education sector as many universities in both public and private sectors hardly have any highly-qualified faculty and have poor facilities.

In most cases, charters have been granted by the provinces without mandatory inspection and approval of the HEC and without meeting the minimum criteria laid down by the cabinet.

The cabinet had decided on February 27, 2002 to close down substandard universities and not to give charters to new universities unless the minimum quality benchmarks were met.

A grace period of five-years was given to the existing substandard universities which expires on February 27, 2007.

In this regard, a significant decision was made by the chancellors committee in a meeting presided over by the president and attended by the prime minister, four governors, the AJK president and other members on May 11, 2004.

The committee took serious note of the situation and decided that “all universities and degree-awarding institutes that have been established to date will be granted a grace period up to February 26, 2007 to come upto the minimum eligibility criteria approved by the cabinet on February 27, 2002. Institutions not meeting the criteria will be relegated to the status of affiliated colleges after this date.”

Many private universities continue to operate in small rented buildings without any properly-qualified faculty. The students are made to pay huge fees without getting proper education.