Degree attestation: NA body advises HEC to resolve the issue facing 54,000 students

ISLAMABAD: The National Assembly (NA) Standing Committee on Federal Education and Professional Training has advised the Higher Education Commission (HEC) to hold a special session to review and resolve the longstanding issue of degrees’ attestation of 54,000 students of different universities/ Higher Education Institutes (HEIs) on a case-to-case basis as a one-time dispensation.

The standing committee meeting held here on Tuesday under the chairmanship of Makhdoom Syed Samiul Hassan Gillani also advised the management of these HEIs to withdraw their litigations against the HEC and provide data of complete fee records, attendance, enrolment, transcripts, results, etc., of their students to the HEC for early resolution of the long outstanding issue.

The committee was told by the Convener of the Sub-Committee, Chaudhary Muhammad Hamid Hameed, that the Sub-Committee held two meetings on the issue of non-attestation of degrees of thousands of students of different HEIs. The HEC, being cooperative in the whole scheme of thought, expressed inclination towards resolution of the issue subject to the fulfilment of their criterion and resultantly the issue of degrees’ attestation of 54,000 students will be resolved, he added.

The committee, endorsing the recommendations of the sub-committee, urged the HEC to hold a special session of their commission and review the longstanding issue of the degrees’ attestation of 54,000 students of different universities/HEIs on a case-to-case basis as a one-time dispensation.

The committee also advised the HEC to impose a penalty of rupees five lacs per complaint against those universities/ HEIs who demand any extra charges in the name of attestation fees from students.

On the agenda concerning the removal of the name of “The Open International University for Complementary Medicine Colombo, Sri Lanka” from the illegal and fake universities list of the HEC, the committee; while referring the matter to the HEC, recommended that all possible measures be taken to resolve the issue at the earliest.

The meeting was attended by Mehnaz Akbar Aziz, Chaudhary Hamid Hameed, Dr Zulfiqar Bhatti, Musarfat Asif Khawaja, Kiran Imran Dar, and Shamim Ara Panhwar, along with senior officers of the HEC and the Ministry of Federal Education and Professional Training.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023