Announcing the new policies for PhD admissions and undergraduate education, the Higher Education Commission of Pakistan (HEC) has said that a student can now directly apply for PhD after completing his Bachelor’s degrees.

This means that a BS degree, or equivalent, will be the minimum criteria for PhD admission. The new policy has already been enforced this year in January in all public and private universities. Now, students with 16 years of education can apply for admissions in a PhD degree.

For admission in PhD programs, First Division in the annual system and a minimum CGPA of 3.0 out of 4.0 in the semester system is required. Moreover, a student pursuing a PhD will have to take up a course load of 48 credit hours.

As per the new policy, the maximum duration of a PhD degree will be eight years, with the minimum being three years. The requirement to send PhD dissertations to foreign experts for review has been removed and dissertations can now be sent to Pakistani experts too.

Following the completion of coursework, every PhD student is required to pass a comprehensive examination in order to be granted candidacy as PhD researcher. HEC has also directed all universities offering Bachelor’s programmes to provide internships to students.