incidents that brought defame to Pakistan, including crimes are all linked with us having a Constitution and regulation in the business of education consultancy today. Even in the case of mysterious murder of Imran Farooq, the two persons nominated by the investigation agencies, who plotted the killing of Imran Farooq, were sent to UK as students through an education consultant based in Karachi representing so-called LAMS College in the east of London. This company existed and operated as education consultant and recruited hundreds of students who did not aim at getting education and until the UKVI terminated the licence of said college under the tear for which prohibited them to recruit international students.
I was asked by the Director General FIA in the year 2007 to produce a report and give my comments on the pros and cons of the business of education consultancy, keeping in view my market integrity and my experience in this profession. The initiative was taken by the DG FIA when Pakistani students held overseas were found with fake documents and degrees issued either from Pakistan or from abroad whose admissions and visas were processed by dubious education consultants. The objective was to look at introducing a framework and proposing a regulation to licence the business of foreign education representation in Pakistan. It is pertinent to mention that foreign education representation or service providers on behalf of the foreign educational insinuations are subjected to regulation and issuance of licence in all of the Middle East. This means that you cannot claim to represent, project, provide services or call yourself representative of foreign university until you have been issued a licence and No-objection Certificate (NoC) from the relevant ministry both Higher Education & Interior. This certifies you to be a legit representative and you have to provide details of the type of work that you will carry out on behalf of these universities. Had this regulation in place in Pakistan and this business of consultancy was not allowed without a proper licence no one including Axact would have floated and spoiled the careers of so many youths and looted billions of rupees by selling fake degrees. It is; therefore, a high time the government agencies, including Higher Education Commission (HEC) should recommend a proper regulation and monitoring framework for the business of education consultancy in Pakistan. Only those who fulfill a given and specific eligibility criteria and undertake to follow the code of ethics should be allowed to operate. The Ministry of Information and Ministry of Interior should monitor the advertising by education consultants and ensure that they understand the concept of responsible marketing within their business sector. If this is not done now in future incidents like this will reoccur.
(Syed Azhar Husnain Abidi is a renowned educationist in Pakistan, with more than 20 years of experience as provider of education counselling services. He has represented Pakistan in over 100 national and international seminars, conferences and fora. He is the recipient of the most coveted civil award Tamgha-e-Imtiaz).