HED notifies change in colleges nomenclature

LAHORE:Higher Education Department (HED) Punjab on Tuesday issued formal notification vis-à-vis change in the nomenclature of public sector colleges of the province.

According to the notification, the nomenclature of government colleges where BS programmes are being offered shall be changed to Government Graduate Colleges. Similarly, all colleges, including Intermediate, Commerce and Home Economics Colleges where BS programmes are not being offered shall be renamed as Government Associate Colleges.

The HED Punjab has also allowed Commerce and Home Economics Colleges to offer Associate Degree Programmes in market-oriented disciplines in addition to programmes in Commerce and Home Economics. The notification also explained that Associate Colleges can be upgraded to Graduate Colleges after the start of BS Four-Year Degree Programmes.

Meanwhile, addressing a press conference, Punjab Higher Education Minister Raja Yassir Humayun Sarfraz said that the Associate Degree Programme would help to get rid of the cramming system and hone children's creativity. He said that the HED Punjab had introduced new subjects tailored to the needs of the domestic and international market for the elimination of unemployment and economic prosperity.

The minister further said that this would not only provide more employment opportunities to youths in the country but also make Pakistani degrees more internationally acceptable. He said there was 16th years education for graduation across the world. It means, 4-year programme after the intermediate/O-level. Furthermore, there is associate degree programme for better and quick job opportunities, he added.

The minister said that if any student wanted to get graduation degree he could avail opportunity to pass four more semesters and complete 16 years degree. We are the part of global world and we should improve our education system on modern lines but unfortunately education was not priority of former governments; therefore, they ignored their role. This is major reason behind unemployment in our country, he added.

These newly-introduced programmes including BS Medical Lab Technology, BS Food Science, BS Nutrition, BS Textile and Fashion Design, BS Software Engineering, BS Public Administration, BS Biotechnology, BS Tourism and Hotel Management, BS Bio Informatics etc would make us equal to standard of modern world, the minister said.