KARACHI, Feb 23: Sindh Education department's Task Force on Higher Education has served final notices to 42 private higher educational institutions, asking their respective administrations to get these registered up to March 20 , under the relevant law, or their campuses in the province will be closed down "forcibly."

Additional secretary, Education (Academic), Mr Noorul Haq, informed PPI on Monday that the Higher Education Commission, in a letter last month, had also asked the provincial education secretary to ensure authenticity of the 42 institutions.

However, as the establishment and functioning of higher education institutions was provincial concern, the secretary formed the task force to review the situation, he said. The task force had served notices to these institutions, asking them for registration or to face the consequences, he added.

Under the relevant ordinance, illegally-run institutions could be subjected to a fine of Rs500 per day, besides one-year imprisonment for the owners, he said, adding that one-month warning had been issued due to a lack of awareness about the law.

He said that the list of all "illegal" higher education institutions, either running degree programmes in collaboration with foreign varsities or offering degrees without approval of the HEC or the provincial education department, was provided by the HEC authorities to the education department.

If these institutions did not close their operations within 30 days, these would be forcibly closed by the Sindh government as per decision of the task force,

The six-member task force is headed by chairman of the Sindh government's charter inspection and evaluation committee, Dr SM Qureshi, while other members of the task force are, Prof Danishmand, Director, IBA, vice-chancellor of the Karachi University, Dr Pirzada Qasim and Sindh University VC Dr Mazharul Siddiqui, CBM Director Talib Karim and Additional Secretary (academic and training) Noorul Haq.

Out of the 42 institutions named by the HEC, 39 are located in Karachi, while one each in Hyderabad, Sukkur and Nawabshah.

According to the HEC list, the institutions are: Newport University USA, Boston University, Al-Khair University (AU, four campuses), East-West University, Chicago, Karachi Campus, AU College of Information Technology, The International University, Planwell University, Adamsons University (Pakistan Campus), Western International University, Preston University (PU) Business Administration Campus, PU Information Technology Campus, PU Pakistan, The Open International University for Complementary, Institute of Banking Finances and Management, Lincoln Institute, AU College, AU College of Education, Islamic Missionary University (girls), Abubakar Islamic University, AU College of Education, American School of International Business, American World University International (Pakistan campus), The Elites University, University of Southern Pakistan, University of Islamic Studies, Sattaria Islamic University, Washington University (Pak Campus), University of Houston Clear Lake (Pak Campus), University of Economics and Technology (Pakistan Campus), Glamshire University (Pakistan Campus), New Port University (Pakistan Campus), International University of America, University of Engineering Science and Technology, and the Open International University for Complementary Medicines (OIUCM), Colombo, while names of five other institutions could not be ascertained. -PPI