HIGHER Education Commission (HEC) on Sunday announced that students should avoid seeking admission in two-year BA/BSc and MA/MSc programs saying these have not been authorized by the Commission. The decision to phase out these programs and replacing them with a single, composite, four-year BS degree was taken back in 2004. However, universities were allowed to continue both systems in the transition period. A final decision was made to stop admission in BA/BSc programs on 31 December 2018 and in MA/ MSc programs on 31 December last year.
Indeed those institutes which continue to offer two-year degree programs are playing with the future of the children and the HEC has done well to warn the parents against such institutes. But in our view, the Commission needs to go a step further and take decisive and strict action against the ones offering degrees in complete violation of its policy and directions. Apart from penalizing them, such universities and campuses must be immediately sealed. In fact, the aim of the four-year BS program was to provide a general education that is broadly applicable and help students gain marketable skills. Also nowhere in the world, two-year BA or BSc degree is offered. Therefore, the very decision of four year BS degree was very much in accordance with the international standards that will also help our students easily get admission in foreign universities. We expect that the HEC officials will take the requisite steps to get its direction implemented and ensure that the universities hire professional and experienced faculty for the BS programs so that they could inculcate knowledge in our students and prepare them for the modern day requirements. In addition, the HEC must also go after the unrecognized universities and their campuses and blacklist those failing to comply with the minimum requirements of providing education. The students also need to stay alert and should not take admission in any university that is not recognized from the HEC as such a certificate will only be a waste of time and not help them get any job or admission in foreign universities.
