The Higher Education Commission of Pakistan has set the time limit of abolishing the 2-year degree program. HEC will slash both BA and MA for 2-year degree programs.
Challenges of Abandoning 2-Year Degree Program
Universities linked to the HEC (recognized) have to come up with other ways of accommodating the issue of doing away with the 2-year degree program.
HEC sent a letter to the universities on March 15th in which it informed all academic institutes of the country to not admit any new students to the two years’ degree program.
Why HEC Believed in Making 2-Year Degree Program Obsolete?
The main reason cited by sources in HEC is confusion. They say that the 2-year and 4-year degree programs make it a lot more confusing for the employers. To overcome this confusion, HEC came up with the solution of getting rid of the 2-year degree program.
HEC also says that this is not a new decision. The body took the decision way back in 2004. However, the educational body is only implementing the decision made earlier.
How to Accommodate Students?
The body has proposed the solution of adding an associate degree to help easily transition from the two-year program. The committee that took the decisions made it illegal for universities or educational institutes to run the two-year program.
HEC has more than 3500 colleges across the country affiliated with it. These colleges are finding it difficult to meet the deadline, and they have failed to come up with an alternate plan.
Back in 2007, the proposal of “bridging semester” was also presented to cover the students who were completing a 2-year degree program.
Quality of Education Compromised
Many of the private educational institutes fail to deliver the desired level of quality education. They also have other issues related to infrastructure and faculty.
Punjab Higher Education’s Verdict
The Punjab Higher Education Commission Minister has said that it is not possible to completely overhaul the system within one year. While talking to a Press Briefing, Punjab Higher Education Commission Minister stated that he had a meeting to review the situation. He said that Punjab would gradually phase out BA and MA programs but not as per the tight deadline.
Here is what the minister said.
“We cannot implement it in one go across the province. We need time and a final decision will be taken after getting recommendations of the committee.”
