ISLAMABAD, Jan 18: The quality assurance committee of the Higher Education Commission (HEC) has decided to make Graduate Record Examination (GRE) mandatory for an applicant seeking admission to any PhD programme in public as well as private sector universities.

HEC Chairman Dr Attaur Rehman presided over the 5th meeting of the commission's quality assurance committee held here on Tuesday. The committee also decided that the degree of a PhD student would only be accepted by the HEC if he/she got the thesis evaluated by two referees from technologically and industrially developed countries.

Speaking on the occasion, Dr Atta said the commission needed to produce quality PhDs instead of increasing their number. He said the decision of making the GRE mandatory would have far reaching impact on improving PhD programmes in the country.

Committee members also shared their views in this regard and assured their full support to the commission's policies for enhancing quality of higher education in the country.

HEC Executive Director Dr Sohail Naqvi, in his remarks, appreciated the committee for underlining the said criteria. Dr Naqvi said this criteria would be implemented across the board.

"All the universities/institutions both in private and public sector offering PhD programmes have to abide by this criteria, otherwise, their degrees will not be accepted by the commission," he added.