Testing times: HEC to formulate guidelines

Guidelines are for conducting mandatory tests from candidates seeking admission to MPhil and PhD programmes.

ISLAMABAD:

After the Lahore High Court declared National Testing Service (NTS) results illegal as admissions criteria for MPhil programmes, the Higher Education Commission (HEC) has formed a body to formulate guidelines for conducting mandatory tests from candidates seeking admission to MPhil and PhD programmes.

HEC Executive Director Dr Mukhtar Ahmad said after the court decision, they were chalking out a mechanism as to how to form a regulatory body and its functions.

The NTS conducts entry test for post graduation programmes and indigenous scholarships, but the recent court decision has put the HEC in a quandary.

The court had observed that admissions and scholarships already granted on the basis of NTS in the past would not be affected and the existing arrangement between the NTS and the HEC will continue till May 30.

When asked whether the HEC would regulate the body itself, Mukhtar said he was not in favour of this.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 27^th, 2014.