LAHORE: The vice chancellors of six public-sector universities have urged the Punjab government to repeal an amendment restoring the institutions’ former college names, warning that the move could affect their international academic recognition, research records and graduates’ degree verification.
The vice chancellors met Higher Education Department (HED) Secretary Ghulam Fareed on Friday and submitted a representation to the Speaker’s office, requesting immediate repeal of the Public Sector Universities (Amendment) Act, 2026.
In their joint representation available with Dawn, the heads of the six institutions said the change had been introduced without consulting the universities’ stakeholders and would cause academic, legal and reputational complications without offering any tangible benefit.
They said students, faculty members and other stakeholders were deeply concerned over the change, which they believed could undermine the institutional identity developed over more than two decades.
The representation has been signed by the vice chancellors of Government College University, Lahore, Lahore College for Women University, Government College University Faisalabad, Government College Women University Faisalabad, Government College Women University Sialkot and Government Sadiq College Women University, Bahawalpur.
The Punjab government, through amendments to the Public Sector Universities Act, 2026, restored the former college names of the six institutions, directing them to drop the word “University” from their titles.
Under a notification issued by the HED on Oct 23, the institutions will henceforth be known as Government College Lahore, Lahore College for Women Lahore, Government College Faisalabad, Government College for Women Faisalabad, Government College for Women Sialkot and Government Sadiq College, Bahawalpur.
The notification said the revised nomenclature had been introduced under the Public Sector Universities (Amendment) Act, 2026 (Act XXIII of 2026), published in the Punjab Gazette on May 6. It clarified that the institutions’ higher education mandate and functions would remain unchanged.
In their representation to the speaker, the vice chancellors said the names adopted when the colleges were upgraded and reconstituted in 2002 had deliberately retained their historical association while recognising their new status as universities.
They argued that the institutions had since developed a distinct academic identity, with research publications, international collaborations, doctoral programmes, research grants and representation in international university rankings.
The vice chancellors warned that changing the names could fragment the institutions’ academic records across international databases, including Scopus, Web of Science, Google Scholar, ORCID and Crossref.
They said publications, citations, rankings, research collaborations and institutional affiliations were recorded under the existing names and would not automatically transfer to the revised nomenclature.
The change could also create difficulties in the verification and recognition of degrees by foreign regulators, employers and immigration authorities, including organisations such as World Education Services (WES) and ECCTIS, they added.
The representation maintained that graduates, students and employees held academic credentials, professional registrations, appointments and other records under the existing institutional names and would face complications in establishing continuity of their qualifications and affiliations.
The vice chancellors also questioned the absence of consultation before the legislation was passed, saying neither the affected institutions nor, to their knowledge, the Higher Education Commission of Pakistan had been consulted about the implications of the proposed changes.
They urged the Punjab Assembly to repeal the amendment and restore the statutory names under which the institutions had operated since their upgrade in 2002.
Alternatively, they requested suspension of the amendment and an independent assessment of its legal, academic and reputational consequences, besides hearings involving vice chancellors, students, alumni and faculty members.
The representation was also forwarded to the chief minister, Punjab governor, Higher Education Commission of Pakistan and Punjab Higher Education Commission for information and necessary action.
Published in Dawn, November 7th, 2026
