ISLAMABAD, July 31: No educational institution in the country is allowed to seek affiliation with a foreign university, education minister Zobaida Jalal informed the National Assembly.

She stated this in a written reply to a question put up by Rana Mehmoodul Hassan regarding the procedure of affiliation of an educational institution/university with a foreign university.

The minister said an institution could only run a collaborative degree programme under franchise arrangements with foreign charted universities.

Responding to the second part of the question, she said a Pakistani educational institution desirous of offering collaborative programme was required to fulfil a certain criterion.

Such an institution should be a registered one under the Companies Act or Societies Ordinance and possess a built-in academic and physical infrastructure required for degree programmes.

Likewise, it should have faculty as per the guidelines of the Higher Education Commission. The fourth condition in this connection is the financial viability in relation to requirement of academic programme, the institution is intended to offer in collaboration with a foreign university.

In case the institution is in any province, the Higher Education Commission provides all information and assistance as may be required by the relevant university to help the institution fulfil the basic requirements.

It also assists the provincial governments in ascertaining the accredited status of foreign universities, and their ranking and repute etc., the minister said.

It is worth mentioning here that over the last few years, a large number of dubious institutions, neither recognized by a provincial government not the HEC, are fleecing people in the name of reputed international universities.

Every now and then, they announce various professional programmes, claiming affiliation with a foreign university and attract students, who, otherwise, cannot get admission to the public sector universities on open merit.

To prove their credibility, such institutions charge huge fees and are housed in buildings located in posh areas. But one thing they lack, is the viable faculty and course material.

However, the HEC recently launched a campaign to check the spread of such institutions and also took action against some.