No announcement of degree programmes in colleges of Karachi upsets SPLA

By our correspondent

Despite the lapse of 10 months after the Higher Education Commission’s (HEC) new policy on bachelor’s degrees, the colleges affiliated with the University of Karachi (KU) have not announced admissions to degree programmes.

In a statement issued on Wednesday, the Sindh Professors and Lecturers Association (SPLA) said public sector varsities across the country had already implemented the HEC’s policy on associate degree programmes and even scheduled exams for students who had secured admissions to such programmes, but only the students of Karachi region were still awaiting announcement of admissions.

The HEC had announced that it would not recognise and verify two-year degree programmes after the academic year 2018. SPLA said thousands of students, especially female students, who intended to secure admissions to colleges located near their houses were still deprived of attending degree programmes. “We have no clear policy on admissions while the administration of the University of Karachi is deliberately making hindrances for colleges.”

The association said the Sindh government was also in favour of implementing the HEC policy on associate degree programmes. In order to create awareness, the provincial government had already published advertisements to announce that two-year degree programme would be considered unauthorised from now onwards.

However, the acting KU vice chancellor (VC) and some of the academic council members are not in favour of following the HEC policy. Owing to this situation, thousands of students couldn’t secure admissions to colleges this year.

SPLA demanded that the Sindh government take serious notice of the issue and remove the acting KU VC as according to the association, he was responsible for the academic loss of students who could not secure admissions.