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Pakistani Universities don’t have capacity to prepare admission test!

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Pakistani Universities don’t have capacity to prepare admission test!

“What would be the format and weightage of the university admission test?” the VCs from public and private universities of country raised the question.

Several other issues related to faulty education system also appeared during the meeting. 

Sindh Courier Report

Islamabad

It transpired during a recent meeting of Vice Chancellors’ Committee that the universities of the country do not have the capacity to prepare their admission test.

Such concerns were shown and observations were made while discussing the matters related to Undergraduate Education Policy and PhD Policy at the Committee’s meeting held on October 29-31 at hotel in Bhurban, attended by over 150 Vice Chancellors of public and private sector universities of Pakistan, according to a document, obtained by Sindh Courier.

The Vice Chancellors’ Committee’s meeting was held after a long period of two years.

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File Photo

The document stated that the VCs while expressing concerns about Undergraduate Policy said that the universities do not have the capacity to prepare a university admission test. “What would be the format and weightage of the university admission test?” they had questioned.

According to VCs the students from different streams will have problems with the test.

They further raised question such as “How will Departmental Admissions take place, and what about admissions in professional programs?”

The VCs also viewed that proportion of general education courses in professional programs is too high.

Moreover, Accreditation Council’s consent for Undergraduate Education Policy disciplinary requirements will be needed while there are contradictions between Accreditation Council’s and HEC guidelines.

During the VC Committee’s meeting it was further observed that internship duration is too long. “Finding Internship slots for large numbers of students will be a problem, especially in deprived areas,” some of the VCs stated.

“Women may have problems engaging in internships due to cultural constraints,” they said according to document.

Non-availability of facilities and resources for Practical Learning Labs was also highlighted in the meeting.  

Other issues raised included lack of student supervision system, lack of assessment system of Practical Learning Labs, insufficient credit hour distribution for Associate Degree disciplinary requirements etc.

According to VCs, excessive General Education courses reduce Associate Degree’s vocational value. Moreover, there is unviability of jobs for the Associate Degree (AD) holders besides unsuitability of AD for various disciplines.

The VCs also discussed PhD admission policy based on BS or 16-years of education. Most of the VCs spoke against this condition due to various reasons including lack of quality of BS students from colleges and lack of research skills.

Discussing the Inter-disciplinary Admissions/Cross-Disciplinary Admission in PhD the VCs opposed such admissions in Ph.D. on grounds that it may be misused.

As regards exclusion of Subject Test, the members of the VC committee believed the subject test assures the grip of the student on a specific discipline.

Discussing the roadmap for students who don’t qualify comprehensive examination, there appeared confusion on this point as most of the members were not clear about the exit point if a scholar is unable to complete the Ph.D. requirement.

On a point “if MS/M.Phil program may lose significance’, the members shared their concern that due to current policy, the universities will not announce MS/M.Phil. programs and Faculty Appointment Criteria requires 18 years or equivalent qualification for appointment.

About 48 Credit Hours, the VCs considered the coursework requirement as the sum of previously offered courses for MS/M.Phil. i.e. 30 Credit hours and for Ph.D. i.e. 18 credit hours.

On Practice-Based Ph.D., one of the members, Dr. Murtaza Jafferi raised concern about the possibility of a Ph.D. in the Arts discipline.

Exchanging views on Ph.D. Supervision, the members of the VC committee raised their concern about the removal of external evaluation and involvement of only tenured faculty members for local supervision.

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