ISLAMABAD: New admissions to unapproved academic programmes being offered by the University of Lahore (UOL) have been halted over incomplete requirements and criteria, Daily Times has learnt reliably.
According to the documents, the Punjab Higher Education Department (PHED) directed the university to stop admissions in many academic programmes as they were not approved by the entities concerned.
“The competent authority in a meeting has decided [that] no admissions should be given in the some unapproved faculties, departments or programmes in the varsity,” read the directives issued by the PHED.
As per the letter, the halted programmes in the Faculty of Engineering and Technology in the UOL include civil engineering, mechanical engineering, computer engineering and electronics and electrical systems technology.
The list of closed programmes and departments in the Faculty of Allied Health Sciences include health professional technologies, sports sciences, nursing, radiological sciences and medical imaging technology, university institute of physical sciences, university of public health, diet and nutritional sciences, university institute of clinical lab technology and doctors of medical laboratory sciences.
The UOL was also directed to close the MBBS and BDS programmes at the Faculty of Medicines and Dentistry. Similarly, the department of architecture and school of arts at Faculty of Arts and architecture were also in the list.
The closed academic programmes in the Faculty of Management Sciences and Faculty of Pharmacy were geography, commerce, education, botany, zoology, sociology and technology programmes.
Currently, the UOL has 11 faculties and 40 departments. It offers 11 short-term courses, over 100 bachelor level programmes, 32 postgraduate programmes and over 50 MPhil and PhD level programmes. The university has seven campuses, including one in Islamabad. The programmes comprise various disciplines, including medical.
As per the university act, for launching any new programme in any discipline, it is mandatory to get the approval from the patron in chief, the chancellor, of the university. Later, the case will have to be forwarded to other institutions concerned such as the Higher Education Commission (HEC), the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC) and the Pakistan Engineering Council (PEC), Pakistan Bar Council (PBC), Pakistan Nursing Council (PNC) and Pakistan Veterinary Council (PVC) for their official consent. The Punjab governor is the chancellor of the UOL.
According to sources, the university has started dozens of programmes in the field of medicine without first getting approval from the chancellor. Sources said the university had managed to get approval from the PMDC’s previous management for launching new medical programmes.
“The previous PMDC management did not bother to check whether the UOL fulfilled the rules or not. Some corrupt elements of the council, while giving undue favour to the UOL, approved several programmes that were intended to start in its different campuses,” said an official of the PMDC.
A senior official of the HEC said that the commission would not attest the higher education level degrees of the programmes that have been halted by competent authorities like the PMDC, PHED, PEC, PBC, PVC and PNC. “The HEC has attestation criteria under which it thoroughly examines each aspect of the degree,” he said, adding that for instance it examines the total credit hours and the consent from professional councils if the degree is in any professional programme.
Published in Daily Times, September 29th 2017.