Moalims

ISLAMABAD: The Higher Education Commission (HEC) and Pakistan Engineering Council (PEC) will enhance collaboration for ensuring quality of engineering education in the country, and to streamline accreditation process of the engineering degrees.

Both the HEC and the PEC will adopt all possible measures to improve quality and accreditation process of programmes in engineering education offered across the country besides, joint surprise visits to monitor universities’ engineering programmes will also be conducted.

This was decided in a meeting between HEC Chairman Dr Mukhtar Ahmad and PEC Chairman Jawed Salim Qureshi, held at Commission Secretariat. This was Qureshi’s first visit to the HEC after assuming the charge of the PEC chairman. An electrical engineer by profession, Qureshi has over 30 years of diversified experience in both public and private sectors. The HEC chairman congratulated him on assuming the charge and hoped that his vast experience of the engineering sector will help the PEC deliver more efficiently.

The HCE chairman informed the PEC Head about HEC’s process for recognition of degrees, wherein accreditation of professional degree courses from relevant professional body is a mandatory condition. “We recognise only those engineering degrees which are accredited by the PEC,” he clarified.

It may be mentioned here that a MoU has been signed between the HEC and the PEC in May this year to develop criteria for recognition of programmes in engineering at undergraduate and postgraduate levels, curriculum of programmes and criteria for appointment of faculty.

HE also briefed the PEC chairman about HEC’s curriculum revision process, adding that curriculum review committees of different engineering programmes have representation of the PEC. He said that curricula of different disciplines are reviewed every three years and it is ensured that it corresponds to international practices as well as national needs.

Dr Mukhtar Ahmed gave an overview of different HEC’s initiatives for developing institutional facilities, introduction of new disciplines in market based technologies, development of human resource including faculty, improvement in research facilities, enhancement of technological infrastructure, Pakistan Education and Research Network, Digital Library, linkages with different foreign universities and other key projects of the commission.

He elaborated how the HEC has been endeavoring to build capacity of researchers and support universities for promotion and commercialisation of research. He hoped that the HEC will have a productive partnership with the PEC for advancing engineering education in Pakistan. The PEC chairman assured complete support to the HEC, emphasising that the PEC will not recognise any degree programme in engineering, which is started in violation of the prescribed policy.

It is pertinent to mention here that the HEC regularly interacts with different accreditation councils to discuss how the process of accreditation could be revamped and strengthened keeping in view the expansion of higher education sector, and learning from international best practices in the accreditation process.

Accreditation councils are responsible for programme accreditation at undergraduate level across the country in the respective subjects with complete autonomy in terms of implementation under policy guidelines of the HEC.

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