Illegal campuses of private varsities to be probed

Higher education commission to form committees, set SOPs for institutions

LAHORE: The matter of illegally established sub campuses of private universities will be probed. The Punjab Higher Education Commission (PHEC) has announced the formation of committees for the purpose.

The announcement was made at a meeting held on Wednesday, where PHEC Chairperson Dr Nizamuddin said committees were being formed to look into the matter. He added they would recommend standard operating procedures and rules that would decide on the legality of sub campuses. He maintained private universities were focusing more on the enrolment of the students and were ignoring the aspect of quality. Therefore, special attention should be paid on enhancing the standard of research and academics, he advised the participants.

“There will be no compromise on the quality of higher education in the province, however, PHEC will facilitate the private sector universities to ensure quality,” Nizamuddin said. “The Punjab government aims to ensure easy access for higher education to students through public and private universities, but the quality will not be compromised in any case.”

The meeting was chaired by Punjab Minister for Higher Education Begum Zakia Shahnawaz. It was held between government functionaries and vice chancellors and 24 rectors of private universities of the province.

While stressing on the importance of research, Begum Zakia said private universities should focus on research as well and allocate financial resources to conduct it at their campuses. “We need your support to reach our goals, we are here to work with you,” she added. “But we have to bring everyone on the table [so that] education [is] spread in every nook and corner.”

The rectors and vice chancellors of private universities appreciated the initiatives taken by PHEC and gave suggestions to cater to the issues related to private universities of the province.

Earlier, in a letter sent on September 20, Punjab Higher Education Department had asked PHEC to make public the names of unapproved programmes and unauthorised campuses and sub campuses of private sector universities. The letter had asked the commission to inform parents and students the names of such educational institutes through advertisements in newspapers.

Later, on September 26, the higher education department of the province sent a reminder to PHEC, stating the commission had been unable to publish an advisory, and that private sector universities were continuously publishing advertisements, offering unapproved programmes at their sub campuses.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 27^th, 2016.