HEC prohibited unaffiliated colleges from offering degree programs

The Higher Education Commission (HEC) has prohibited unaffiliated schools from providing Master’s, MPhil, and Ph.D. degrees, and students are advised not to enroll in such institutions.
The HEC said in an official statement that institutions that are not linked with any HEC-recognized higher education institutes are not permitted to provide Master’s, MPhil, or Ph.D. degrees.

The HEC has encouraged students to check the affiliation status of institutions before applying for admission and has said that degrees and transcripts given by unaffiliated colleges would not be recognized or certified by the commission.

At contrast, the Higher Education Department (HED) intends to start Masters’s and MPhil programs in institutions connected with HEC-recognized universities in the near future.

Earlier this week, the HEC urged students not to get their academic diplomas validated by Degree Attestation Agents, claiming that all such agents are fraudulent.

According to the HEC, students may apply for authentication of their academic diplomas online using its Degree Attestation System (DAS). Academic credentials not certified by HEC’s DAS will be seized if submitted to the HEC.