ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Engineering Council (PEC) has allowed students who have passed their FSc with pre-medical subjects to take admission to BS Engineering Programme as the subject was facing a downward trend.

PEC, which is the regulatory body of engineering, has allowed pre-medical students to take admission in BS engineering after completing a eight-week condensed programme “to compensate for deficient courses like mathematics, prior to becoming eligible for admission to the engineering programme”.

“Until a few years ago, our engineering universities were producing around 30,000 engineers annually. But, gradually, the field is facing a decline. So much so that there is a decline of around 10,000 admissions in one year whereas some universities have even shut down their engineering department due to lack of students. Therefore in order to motivate pre-medical students toward engineering we have decided to allow them as well,” PEC Registrar Dr Nasir Mahmood Khan said.

He said this decision was made after due consultation with vice chancellors and experts.

Says programme in a state of decline; eight-week course mandatory for such students

Speaking to Dawn, Mr Khan said universities had been directed to enroll students with pre-medical background from this fall admission session. He said the field of engineering was imperative for the progress of the country and the PEC in consultation with other government organisations was taking several initiatives such as paid training programme, STEM education at school level, etc.

The PEC’s letter dated July 11, which was addressed to the HEC, stated that the PEC governing body in its 49th meeting on June 28 decided to allow the students having Higher Secondary School Certificate (HSSC) intermediate pre-medical qualification for admission in all engineering programmes as per the PEC Regulations for Engineering Education in Pakistan.

The PEC, through the letter, directed the universities to adhere to the new guidelines and standard operating procedures (SOPs) for granting admission to such students.

The PEC directed that entry test mechanism/regimes be moderated to include above qualification and its weightages for admission eligibility. The universities were directed to “conduct eight weeks condensed programme to compensate for deficient courses viz. Mathematics, prior to become eligible for admission in engineering programmes. This may be considered as provisional admission for foundation courses to qualify to b eligible for admission through entry test”.

“The university conducting eight weeks programme would be responsible to develop condensed programme and to ensure quality of teaching, learning and assessment. Students will be admitted in accordance with the admissibility criteria as per discipline’s merit and students preference. 40pc seats within the total allowed intake for each batch of the respective programmes may be filled with the background qualification of HSSC (pre-medical) for those students who have successfully completed the aforementioned condensed programme,” the letter read.

It further said the university would conduct entry test for students qualifying the condensed programme separately to determine merit for admission.

“The university admissions cycle may vary in accordance with regional requirements for the commencement of the academic year. The requirement of 60pc marks in HSSC is mandatory for admission in engineering programmes as per Article… of PEC Regulations for Engineering Education in Pakistan,” the letter said.

The PEC informed the universities that the SRO for the amendment to PEC regulations was under process and would be shared shortly.

Meanwhile, the Higher Education Commission (HEC) will look into this issue on Monday. “Yes, PEC has taken this decision and they have shared a letter with universities in this regard. We will look into this issue on Monday,” an officer of the HEC said.

Published in Dawn, July 15th, 2024