Punjab government has abolished the two-year BA, BSc, graduate programmes and two-year master's degree programmes in 780 government colleges and more than 30 government universities across Punjab.
In this context, in the future, every government college and university will be able to enroll students only in BS four-year honours programmes.
Thus, the title of graduation has now been abolished from the new calendar of education and research. It will be replaced by a BS honours four-year programme whose qualifications will be officially considered equivalent to a 16-year degree.
From the 2020-2021 academic year, the status of the two-year BA, BSc, B.Com and BSc Computer Sciences graduate degree in government colleges and universities across Punjab has been abolished.
Instead, the four-year BS honours programmes including BS Physics, BS Chemistry, BS Math, BS Biology, BS Computer Sciences, BS Economics, BS English, BS Persian, BS Arabic, BS Punjab and BS Fine Arts programmes have been implemented, keeping in view the international standards.
These degree programmes will cover four years.
Reportedly, its credit hours have also been included in the inter , which means that two -years of inter and four years of honours programmes have been combined to form a 16-year degree title.
In this regard, the provincial government has also issued written instructions to all other government agencies, departments and agencies, including the Punjab Public Service Commission, to ensure that the minimum job eligibility for any future job advertisement is given to BS honours programmes.
Regarding this, regular annual candidates who have completed the two-year BA, BSc graduation, which is around 150,000 government students, and around 800,000 in case of private candidates, have now been disqualified from this facility.
On the other hand, after issuing instructions to government agencies, those who can afford two-year degree programmes, which is the two-year graduate degree, will not be able to find employment anywhere. For this, they will have to complete four years.
On the other hand, the two-year education programmes at masters level have also been abolished because if the duration of the four-year honours programmes is recognized as sixteen years, then the need for a master's degree will not be felt after the honours programmes.
Instead, those who have done BS honours have been declared eligible for direct admission in M.Phil.
Previously, after two-year graduate programmes, candidates could pursue a two-year master's degree programme, followed by a two-year M. Phil and then a Ph.D.
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However, now by changing this period, it will be possible to do M. Phil in 15 months after BS honours and after that it will be possible to do PhD.
In this context, while all government colleges and universities are bound by this directive, the private educational institutions affiliated and registered with the department of education, department of higher education, Punjab Higher Education Commission and Pakistan Higher Education Commission, are also equally applicable.
Speaking to The Express Tribune, Punjab Minister for Higher Education Raja Yasir Humayun Sarfaraz said that the two-year graduate and two-year master's degree programmes have been abolished in order to enhance the quality of education and meet the requirements of international education and research.
Two-year graduate programmes have been given associate degree status in view of the immediate employment of alternative candidates, he added. “If the candidates want to complete graduation, they have to take two more years of education from any relevant university so that they can complete four year.”
Otherwise they will not be called graduates, he elaborated.
“However, in the job market, immediate employment will be available to candidates pursuing associate degree,” the higher education minister clarified.
According to the decision of the provincial government, the next academic year 2020-2021, which started from this month, has been made compulsory for admission in only four year BS honours programmes on a regular basis
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