PESHAWAR, Jan 24: The Higher Education Commission set up a committee comprising vice-chancellors of different universities to review the

PhD programmes of 20 universities.

A press release issued here on Thursday by NWFP Agricultural University said that HEC set up the review committee to ensure that the quality of education imparted at the MPhil and PhD levels were of international standard.

The meeting chaired by Prof Dr Suhail Naqvi, executive director HEC, and attended by the vice-chancellor Prof Dr Said Khan observed that quality was a priority in teaching, research, scholarships and academic environment.

The review committee was set up to ensure that great care was exercised while making quality assessments.

The need to assess the quality of education imparted to the PhD students was felt after the HEC took into account the diversity of situations and the academic culture in Pakistan, the press release said.

The meeting also assessed the performance of universities on the basis of action plans for the PhD programmes.