It has been about 19 months since ProPakistani last touched the subject of fake universities in Pakistan.
We reported that 184 fake, illegal or unrecognized universities were operating in the country without the Higher Education Commission’s (HEC) approval. Back then, HEC officials stated that they are trying to curb this menace; a few voices were raised and a parliamentary panel showed concern over the matter.
Today, after the passage of 19 months, not much progress has been made and we are facing the exact same problem. HEC has repeatedly claimed that it has improved regulation of the education sector and that the number of fake universities in operation has decreased drastically.
However, as suggested by news reports last year, the governing body needs to do much more in curbing this menace and show results. Punitive measures against fake universities are called for and an effective mechanism for ensuring that this practice does not continue is needed as well.
Every year we hear about thousands of students protesting against HEC and their universities because the degrees offered by these institutes are unrecognized, with fake universities fooling students and their parents into churning out huge sums of money as tuition fees.
These universities hide the fact that they are yet to get clearance from HEC or, sometimes, even procure a forged HEC approval. But all of these protests fall on deaf ears as neither the government nor the commission takes notices of the students’ pleas.
As of now, HEC is aware of 168 fake, illegal or unrecognized universities, 16 less than what we reported a year and a half ago. The number is more or less the same, evidently suggesting that the HEC is neither interested nor will be in the future to fix the issue.
As reported earlier, some of these universities have affiliation with public or private sector universities but do not have the proper NOC from HEC. All universities are required to obtain the NOC before commencing educational operations.
Majority of the universities fraudulently mention “International”, “Western”, “London”, “US” or any other international place and sometimes even claim of affiliation with international institutes; all to scam students into spending money on low quality education and an unrecognized degree.
The most annoying part of this whole story is that the HEC, the parliamentary committee and the rest of the government is completely aware of the whole situation yet they completely ignore this matter as if there was some factor preventing them from taking action against the universities. These universities are making billions each year, ripping off the public, and is not something to be taken lightly.
Hundreds of thousands of students’ lives and careers are at risk because of the uncontrolled fake institutes. If nothing is done, it could be disastrous for the future of the country’s youth and its workforce potential. If Pakistan gets international investments or development projects, it would be of no use if our workforce is unqualified.
There are several other repercussions and consequences of ignoring this issue. At the very least we could share this news with all our friends and inform them to check with the HEC website to see which universities and colleges are legit an which ones are working without approval.
Here is the list of unrecognized/fake universities: Unrecognised Universities (HEC)