Brief on Professional Education in Pakistan

Majority of SAARC member states inherited British System of Education at the time of their independence.   There were some short-cuts for achieving terminal degrees required to produce clerks and other low level government functionaries, which included 2-years Bachelors, schools of technicians for semi-skilled man power to run whatever industry existed and similarly for training for para-medics to provide elementary health care facilities.  Admission requirement for these courses were in some cases just matriculation while in very few cases the requirement was intermediate in relevant specialty. 

 

There was no agricultural, engineering or medical university at the time of creation of Pakistan.  The only medical college, which was catering to health care, was King Edward Medical College in Lahore.  In absence of above professional institutions having professional regulatory body was just a dream. 

At the moment, Pakistan has total of 120 universities/institutions of higher education, which include 64 in public and 56 in private sector. These include universities in agriculture, engineering and technology and medical sciences, which are imparting education in almost spheres of knowledge. 

The regulatory/professional bodies like Pakistan Agricultural Research Council (PARC), Pakistan Medical & Dental Council (PM&DC), Pakistan Engineering Council (PEC), Pakistan Council of Architects and Town Planners, Pakistan Nursing Council and Pakistan Pharmacy Council etc. have been established.  These Councils are not playing regulatory role but are responsible for advising the government on growth and development of the professions. 

The University Grants Commission, which was established in 1973 had limited role, yet it helped a lot in giving direction to universities/institutions for educational development by identifying the crucial areas, which needed attention.  However, after repeal of UGC Act, the Higher Education Commission was established in 2002 with much broader spectrum of activities ranging from review and revision of curricula, development of infrastructure including pre-service and in-service training of faculty members, institution of research faculties and development of tripartite linkages between university-industry and R&Ds etc.  The Commission has inculcated the concept of knowledge based economy amongst the policy planners and financial experts of the country making them set aside huge sums for training and education of young bright men and women leading to Masters’ and Ph.D degrees from reputed universities.   

The Higher Education Commission, under its law, is responsible for setting up of accreditation Councils and for the capacity building of existing Councils, study groups of national and international experts for identification and resolution of problems confronting the nation as well as it is empowered to cause evaluation of institutions.  Now, a mechanism is in place, where universities/institutions of higher education are to get funding (developmental and recurring) on the basis of their performance.  The Commission has started accreditation of universities/institutions which includes institutional as well as programme accreditation.  

As per System of Education in Pakistan, admission to any professional university degree is based on minimum of 12-years of schooling.  The awards are made upon qualifying minimum of 4-5 years of professional education.  Since, universities are autonomous in character in their academic and management affairs, Annual, Semester and Tri-mester are running simultaneously.  Two Semesters a year qualify a student minimum of 32-40 credit hours and the award of degrees under semester system involves 130-140 credit hours.   In case of Tri-mesters, equivalence is calculated on the basis of 2 credits in a semester as equivalent to 3-credit points in Tri-mester system.  A profile of professional degrees ranging from Agriculture to Medicine and Animal Husbandry to Veterinary Medicine and Engineering to Technology etc is given below:

Entrance Requirement:   minimum of 12-years schooling/HSSC/Intermediate/’A’ Levels/International Baccalaureate or American School Diploma etc.

 

years	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Varied duration
Education			B.Ed		M.Phil		D
Arts & Design			BFA/ BAD		M.S./ MPhil	PhD			D
Architecture				B. Arch
Law				LLB		LLM		PhD	D
Engineering			B.E/ B.Sc (Engg)		M.E/ M.Sc.			PhD
Computer Sciences/ Information Technology			BCS/ BIT		M.S (CS)/ M.I.T			PhD
Management Scs			BBA (Hons)		MBA/ M.S.			PhD
Medical Sciences
Medicine				MBBS		M.S/ M.D./ MPhil			PhD
Dentistry			BDS			MDS
Nursing				BSc (N)		M
Pharmacy				Pharm D
Veterinary medicine				DVM/ BSc (AH)		MPhil			PhD
Agriculture			BSc (Hons)		M.Sc (Hons)		D

 

 

BAD bachelor’s of Arts & Design B.Arch bachelor’s in Architecture BBA bachelor’s in Business Administration BCS bachelor’s in Computer Science BDS bachelor’s in Dental Surgery BE bachelors in Engineering BEd bachelor’s in Education BFA bachelor’s’ of Fine Arts BIT bachelor’s in Information Technology BN bachelor’s of Nursing BSc bachelor’s of Science in Animal Husbandary BSc (Hons) bachelor’s of Science BSc (Engg) bachelor’s of Science in Engineering BSc bachelor’s of Science in Nursing D doctorate  in relevant discipline DVM Doctor of Veterinary Medicine LLB bachelor’s in Law LLM master’s in Law MD Docotr of Medicine M.Phil master of philosophy in relevant discipline M.S. master of science M & PhD denotes masters and doctoral degrees in relevant discipline