Future of over 1,000 PhDs in the doldrums

Degree holders finding it impossible to get registered with HEC’s country directory

ISLAMABAD: For as long as seven years, more than 1,000 PhD-degree holders have been waiting to get registered in the country’s directory of the Higher Education Commission (HEC), as without it, their degrees are irrelevant.

Some of them have been waiting since 2010 to get registered, while the rest since 2016.

The HEC has developed an online PhD directory for students to apply and get registered, which helps them verify and attest their degrees.

According to available figures for the last two years, registration has become a daunting task and the number of PhD-degree holders has soared over 1,000.

When contacted, HEC chairperson Mukhtar Ahmed said universities that do not reply to queries of PhD-degree holders is a major problem.

Similarly, many universities have issued degrees in 10 to 15 years which was in total violation of eight years limit of HEC.



“Still we are trying to remove all the glitches and the issue is in my knowledge and I am personally looking into the matter,” he concluded.

The conundrum

The awaiting PhD-degree holders blame universities for issuing degrees against the rules laid out by the HEC and later for bureaucratic hurdles and ‘needless’ requirements that further delay the already-delayed degree attestation.

“I completed my PhD in December 2016 and since then my university has not paid me my salary just because my degree is not attested by the HEC and registered in the directory,” said a teacher from Air University, on condition of anonymity.

She further said that the HEC had made them suffer for no reason, as at times those sitting at the helms of affairs were more bureaucratic.

“I got my degree in English Linguistics and the HEC does not accept it,” she said. “The HEC should raise the issue with the university which issued the degree.”

The PhD-degree holders should not be punished for blunders by universities, she demanded.



Another scholar, who teaches at FAST University in Islamabad, said that he was eligible for Tenure Track System which offered a lucrative salary package for teachers, but was not selected because his degree was not verified by the HEC.

Other PhD-degree holders, waiting to get registered, stated that they could not apply for any foreign university nor could they seek international funding.

According to HEC’s directory, there are 13,780 local PhDs registered.

Criteria for registration

The criteria for registration in the directory are submission of hard and soft copies of thesis; filling up Pakistan country directory Performa; attaching a copy of notification; degree completion duration should be between three to eight years; foreign evaluators must be from technologically advanced countries; research paper should be published before awarding PhD degree; plagiarism report similarity should be less than 19 per cent and individual source be less than 5 per cent.

When asked about the number of non-registered PhDs, the HEC avoided sharing the exact number and instead stated that it was a continuous process of entry as names are registered as soon as the complete information is received.

The HEC media section stated that the reasons for delay include incomplete information received from universities, degrees awarded in violation to university’s own and HEC PhD policies, and proper record not maintained at university side.