Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: The management of Al-Khair University of Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJ&K) has submitted 78000 degrees’s data to the Higher Education Commission (HEC) for reviewing their originality.

As per reliable information with Daily Times, the Al-Khair University’s senior management submitted the details of 78,000 degrees that were awarded by the university in different sessions before fall 2016. The degrees comprise various disciplines.

The sources in the HEC disclosed that the Commission’s Degree Attestation and Accreditation wing has constituted a probe committee in this regard. The committee will thoroughly examine all the aspects of awarded degrees by the university. They added that it will compile the report within a couple of weeks.

An official in the HEC said that the committee would examine the students’ records, enrollment and awarded degrees dates, their attendances and results of all semesters.

“The committee would complete the whole process in different steps in mutual consultation with the university’s administration. The conclusion of the whole process will take a couple of months,” he claimed.

Last year the HEC had closed down the AJ&K University, its campuses and affiliated colleges over some incomplete academic arrangements and alleged mismanagement in the university. After the closure of the university, the HEC had also directed to halt fresh intakes of admissions from semester fall 2016.

“Due to mismanagement in academic operations in the Al-Khair University, AJ&K, the HEC has halted the operations of Al-Khair University for taking further admissions. Therefore, the students and their parents are advised not to take admissions in any of the branches, campus or college affiliated with Al-Khair University. The degrees of enrolled students in this university after fall 2016 will not be recognised by the HEC”, reads a portal that had been issued by
the HEC.

It is pertinent to mention here that the HEC has blacklisted 155 universities and Degree Awarding Institutions (DAIs) across the country including AJ&K and Islamabad.

The halted academic operations in universities in AJ&K are Al-Khair University, Institute of Advanced Studies of Information Technology, Dadyal and Pak Kashmir Institute of IT, Mirpur.

In the capital, such a list comprises Roots IVY University College F-8 Markaz, Islamabad (for its foreign undergraduate degree programmes), Metropolitan International University College (MIUC), H-8, Islamabad (for its foreign undergraduate degree programmes),Islamabad Law College, Islamabad and the Centre of Emerging Sciences, Engineering and Technology (CESET), Islamabad.

After the closure of Al-Khair University, as per HEC sources, the commission wrote many letters to the university for sharing the details of awarded degrees to the students in all disciplines.

“Incompliance with such letters, Al-Khair University finally submitted the details of its awarded degrees”, said an official.

When approached, the Chairperson HEC Dr.Mukhtar said that commission would look into the matter deeply and detection of fake degrees by the Al-Khair University would not be attested at any cost.

When asked to share the details about the constitution of the committee’s findings, he said the inquiry in this regard was still under way.