Admissions to engineering varsities discussed

Islamabad : A consultative meeting of the Pakistan Engineering Council, vice chancellors of engineering universities and senior officials of the Higher Education Commission was held here on Wednesday under the chairmanship of Federal Minister for Education and Vocational Training Shafqat Mehmood to ensure admission of students in engineering universities.

Due to the delay in the start of academic year and examinations due to coronavirus pandemic, various options were discussed in the meeting to ensure the timely admission to engineering universities and save the students' time.

The participants unanimously decided that all students of Pakistan, who had passed or will have to appear for the Intermediate examination, will be allowed to sit the E-CAT examination and engineering examination.

They also said that Cambridge A2 students will also be allowed to sit these examinations and the universities will give them provisional admission subject to their final examination whose results were expected to be out in January.

Minister Shafqat Mehmood lauded the decision of the engineering universities and the relevant authorities saying, this year is an extraordinary year for students and educational institutions in which we have had to make extraordinary decisions.

"It is a commendable act of the Pakistan Engineering Council and the authorities concerned to provide such facilities to the students under the direction of the federal and provincial governments in which no student's year is wasted," he said.

The meeting was attended by HEC Executive Director Dr. Shaista Sohail, VC Quaid-e-Azam University and Vice Chancellors Committee Chairman Prof. Dr. Muhammad Ali Shah, VC Punjab University Prof. Niaz Ahmed Akhtar, VC University of Engineering and Technology Lahore Dr. Syed Mansoor Sarwar, secretary Higher Education Department Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Prof. Dawood Khan Balochistan University of Engineering and Technology University VC Prof. Ehsanullah Khan Kakar, VCNED Karachi Prof. Dr. Soroush Lodhi and Chairman Punjab Higher Education Commission Dr. Fazal Ahmad Khalid.