HEC defends move to end 2-year BA

Its chairman says decision was taken years ago in consultation with all stakeholders

LAHORE: Reacting to the furore over ending the two-year bachelor’s and master’s degree programmes, Higher Education Commission (HEC) Chairman Dr Mukhtar Ahmed said on Saturday that the decision had been taken years ago with the consent of all stakeholders.

Dr Mukhtar said the decision was taken in the best interest of higher education, as the two-year bachelor’s and master’s did not meet the international standard.

“The HEC was established with the goal of bringing Pakistan’s higher education sector at a par with the world. Our students faced problems worldwide because of the two-year BA and MA degree programmes, as these were not recognised internationally,” he said.



Dr Mukhtar said that in 2004-2005, a decision was taken, with the consent of all stakeholders, that the two-year BA and MA programmes would be discontinued and replaced with the four-year BS and two-year MS programmes equivalent to 16 and 18 years of education, respectively.

In 2007 the associate degree was added to facilitate the transition.

Later in 2014, a committee was constituted, which suggested a deadline for the discontinuation of the programme and finally in 2015 a commission approved the move.

Dr Mukhtar said that the latest was only a reminder of the deadline set by stakeholders. He said that the universities had already discontinued the BA and MA degrees and now only affiliated colleges and private examinations get enrolled in the system.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 19^th, 2017.