PIMSAT students left with useless degrees

Tussle between HEC and university has resulted in degrees not being accredited

KARACHI: A recent BS technology graduate of Preston Institute of Management Sciences and Technology (Pimsat), Mudasser Abbas is still waiting for his degree, which is of no use to him.

Abbas, who will be getting his degree in the next three months, is unhappy because the degree will not be accredited by the Higher Education Commission (HEC) of Pakistan, which will result in him not getting a job or admission in a master's programme.

"There are around 12 students in my class and another 25 seniors who graduated last year but are still waiting for the issue between the university and HEC to be resolved," he explained, adding that this is the worst thing that can happen to a student after studying for four whole years.

All the students who cleared their exams received their transcripts from the university in February, 2017 while their seniors obtained them last year but all of the students are still waiting for the degrees to be accredited by the HEC head office in Islamabad.



Like Abbas, there are many others of his class fellows and students enrolled in other courses, such as MBA, MCS, MS and MPhil, whose degrees are also not recognised by the federal HEC.

"The process of validation started last year for a few weeks when students protested and took the matter to the higher authorities but then again it stopped," said Abbas. He said that many companies ask for verified degrees for employment purposes, which the students cannot provide. Some of Abbas's seniors, who graduated in 2014, are still unemployed due to the accreditation issue.

"We have had meetings with the Pimsat director but he says he does not know when the issue will be resolved," lamented the troubled graduate, adding that the director told the students to do whatever they can but said he could not be of any help.



To make matters worse, the HEC's regional office has also stopped students from entering their office and the guards refuse to let them in as they are from Pimsat.

When approached, the university administration said to contact the HEC, Karachi, but when the students approached HEC's Karachi chapter they were told that the HEC has some official concerns and issues with Pimsat's affiliation and directed them to ask their administration or contact the HEC's head office in Islamabad.

"HEC, Karachi said they are not validating degrees from Newports Institute of Communications and Economics and Pimsat," explained Abbas.

After contacting the university, the students discovered that there are recognition issues ongoing at Pimsat's Lahore campus and a case is pending with the Lahore High Court.



The last time the students contacted the HEC, they were informed that their data and gazette has not been submitted by their institute. The universities' administration, however, claims they submitted the data a year ago.

Meanwhile, HEC head office spokesperson Ayesha Ikram told The Express Tribune that the status of the problem is the same as last year. "The HEC has stopped verification of degrees from the institutes that were running illegally," she said, adding that the attestation of degrees from Pimsat has been done according to the data provided of around of 8,000 students.

"If any of the students are still facing issues it is because the university administration has not sent the data to the HEC," Ikram explained, adding that the HEC cannot do anything until the data is provided to them.

Explaining the issues between the institute and HEC, she said that Pimsat's Lahore campus was not recognised by the HEC, which is why the campus has been shut down. The Karachi campus, however, is recognised and its students will be awarded degrees but the confusion is regarding the data and details that have not provided by the institute yet.



HEC requires this data to verify student records and avoid fake verification of students from the Lahore campus. An administrative officer at Pimsat said the university has resolved all the concerns and is the process of preparing a list, which includes enrolment and research details that will then be forwarded to the HEC.