ISLAMABAD: The Higher Education Commission (HEC) has abolished the condition of MS or MPhil degree for admission to PhD, and an individual with 16 years of education or BS can directly enrol in a doctorate programme.
This was announced by Chairman HEC Tariq Banuri, while addressing a news conference here on Wednesday.
The new Undergraduate Education Policy 2020 and the PhD Policy are aimed at protecting students’ right to acquire quality education and to increase the value of higher education degrees nationally and internationally.
The HEC chairman said the condition of having an MS or MPhil degree for admission to PhD has been abolished, and an individual with 16 years of education or BSc can directly enrol in a doctorate programme.
The earlier BA or BS degree is now known as the associate degree, which is an alternative for the former two programmes.
“We had received a lot of complaints regarding the PhD programme, but now universities will have to strictly follow the rules of the doctorate programmes,” he added.
The chairman said there was a mismatch between the education system and the industry needs, which rightly raised concerns pertaining to a lack of marketable skills in the graduates produced by Pakistani universities.
The chairman HEC admitted that there was need of increase in the value of degrees as students faced many hardships even getting degrees from universities due to mismatch of education system and industries requirements.
He said the Undergraduate Education Policy 2020 had been formulated to address those concerns, adding the policy would promote practical competence and general education skills in addition to the tradition focus on discipline-based curriculum.
“To promote practical competency of students, the universities will ensure that their graduates acquire a nine-week internship in addition to going through an extracurricular training before obtaining degrees,” he added.
Banuri said the universities must be committed to produce qualified graduates, whose overall level of knowledge and competence is up to the mark.
He informed the media persons that the professional accreditation councils are being strengthened to improve the quality of disciplinary education.
“Our intention is to improve the quality of our graduates and the confidence of employers in the worth of our degrees.”
Regarding the structure of undergraduate education, he said the two-year BA/BSc and MA/MSc programmes had been phased out to shift towards four-year BS programmes, and the Associate Degree programme, a credit-based system, has replaced the two-year BA/BSc degree, however, the students who want to continue their studies can have a bridge to the four-year BS programme.
Elaborating the new PhD Policy, Banuri said that it has been upgraded in line with the international best practices and is applicable from 1st January, 2021.
He said that the BS graduates can now directly take admission in PhD programmes and in a different discipline, if universities find them “prepared” and “committed”.
The chairman explained that preparedness means that the students have enough knowledge, competence, and previous academic training enabling them to succeed in a PhD programme.
“The universities will also assess the applicants’ commitment to the discipline,” he added.
Apart from the admission criteria, the PhD students will have to go through a thorough evaluation before they complete their studies.
Likewise, the teaching and mentoring system has also been reorganised on the pattern of ancient Sufi episteme, so that students may better benefit from their teachers and mentors.
He said the universities might choose to have BS or MS/MPhil as the minimum criteria for admissions; however, the minimum requirement for admission in PhD programmes is a BS degree.
If the PhD students come directly from the BS programmes, they may be required to complete a larger number of credit hours compared to those who have previously completed MS/MPhil degrees.
The policy requires the scholars to study 50 percent of courses in the university that covers two years in residence, so that the students can closely interact with their supervisors.
The chairman informed the media that the two policies were formulated after thorough deliberations and consultations with the relevant stakeholders including vice chancellors, professors, and educationists.
Around 1,000 people including vice chancellors and professors were consulted before finalising these policies.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2021
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