ISLAMABAD, Nov 13: The Higher Education Commission (HEC) is stepping up its campaign against university campuses operating illegally in the country. HEC Chairman Dr Attaur Rehman, while talking to Dawn , said time had come to take serious action against dubious degree-awarding universities.

The commission has already launched an extensive campaign in the media against such educational institutions. Under the campaign titled "Parents Alert", full-page advertisements will appear in the press, he added.

He admitted that a number of universities/institutions were operating illegally. He said degrees awarded by such institutions were not recognized. Parents are, therefore, cautioned as their children might face subsequent problems in securing jobs, he added.

In response to a question, Mr Ata said, at present three different kinds of illegal degree-awarding universities were operating in the country. Some universities, he said, had been granted charters to operate in a certain area. However, these have opened sub- campuses beyond their territorial jurisdictions, he added.

Secondly, there are universities which neither have applied for charters nor in the run to obtain any legal status. These universities have no grounds to operate. Thirdly, the HEC chairman said, there are a number of universities which claimed to be affiliated with international institutions.

What the commission has planned to do is to advertise their names in the press so that people should take care while applying for admissions to such degree-awarding institutions, he added.

Answering another question, Mr Ata said: "Yes, we also have universities both in public and private sectors which are allowed to run their courses, however, these did not fulfil HEC's criteria for a degree-awarding institution."

For such institutions, the federal cabinet has set a deadline of five years, starting from February 28, to meet the required level of faculty and infrastructure development, he added.

Meanwhile, he said, the commission was keeping a close watch on these degree-awarding institutions and kept on nudging them to fulfil the prerequisites, otherwise, their charters would be cancelled after February 2007.

It is very unfortunate, that the country was facing this menace at this critical time when higher education sector of a country determines its status among the comity of nations, Dr Ata said.

It is worth mentioning here that the mid '90s witnessed a mushroom growth of dubious degree-awarding institutions all over the country. Interestingly, some of the known industrialists entered in this booming business and kept on minting money till the time when their degrees were rejected in the job market.