Higher Education Commission (HEC) has instructed the students to ensure that their educational documents are not laminated/plastic coated, so that the stamps are properly affixed by HEC on their degrees/ transcripts and the documents are not damaged. The official sources told APP that HEC had issued instructions regarding attestation of laminated documents in which it is clearly stated that the documents are not laminated. “HEC verifies the degrees awarded by the recognized universities. As per the instructions available on our website, the applicants are required to communicate through email on an individual basis during the process of online application” they added. The applicants are therefore advised to follow these instructions i.e the HEC web portal is meant for attestation of degrees awarded by recognized Universities/Degree Awarding Institutes (DAIs) of Pakistan. Degrees awarded by foreign Universities/Degree Awarding Institutions (DAIs) are not attested by HEC. The sources further stated that HEC issues equivalence letters against foreign qualifications and only such equivalence letters are attested by HEC through this web portal. The web link for equivalence of foreign degrees is des.gov.pk. The applicants must ensure that there is no erasing/misprint or any unreadable alphabet/word on all documents including your degree(s), transcript(s), etc.Only Transcript (if degree is not issued) is attested by HEC subject to the condition that the said original transcript is verified by the Controller of Examination of concerned university on back side or provide a verified photocopy of the transcript. In case your transcript/marks sheet is not issued by the examination department of University/DAI rather it has been issued by an affiliated college/Institute/Department then please ensure that such transcript/marks sheet is duly countersigned by Controller of Examination of concerned University/DAI.