ISLAMABAD, Pakistan: Currently, 248 Universities including 148 in Public and 100 in Private Sector are recognized by the Higher Education Commission (HEC), the National Assembly was told.
Replying to a question, the Minister for Federal Education and Professional Training Rana Tanveer Hussain told the House in writing on Monday that the Establishment of a University/Degree Awarding Institution (DAI) is the prerogative of the legislative forums (federal or provincial governments).
The HEC supports the proposal(s) for the establishment of new Universities / DAIs subject to comprehensive affirmative feasibility (meeting all physical, academic and financial requirements as per HEC criteria), upfront issuance of No-Objection Certificate (NOC) by the HEC and guaranteed funding for operations of such newly established Universities.
To another question, the minister apprised that most of the Public Sector Universities charge registration fee (non-refundable); however, the fee varies from university to university.
It was also told that generally, the Universities offer admissions twice a year (Spring Session January-March) and (Fall Session August-October).
To kick start the admission process (for dissemination of parent/prospect students), the Universities usually announce admissions couple of months before the start of Semester (either Spring or Fall).
To align the admission process with academic calendar, mostly Universities announce admissions (Fall session) before declaration of intermediate result by various Board of Intermediate Education (BISE).
Furthermore, it was told that the admission procedure varies from University to University. Few Universities offer admissions on provisional basis to the prospect students (candidates) on hope certificate (with certain conditions i.e. candidate will have to provide attested copy of final result of intermediate and admission would stand cancelled if candidate fails in any subject or couldn’t secure the require percentage for admission in the specific degree program), whereas few Universities neither offers provisional admission nor finalizes the merit list of admissions till announcement of results of intermediate by the respective BISE.
The House was further told that the Universities complete the admission process as per policy/ rules/ regulation duly approved by their statutory bodies. The legal authority vested in them also empowers Universities to devise policy for smooth process to facilitate the candidates in securing admissions.
