International Education Guide - Enterprise and Advanced Education ...

INTERNATIONAL EDUCATION GUIDE for the assessment of education from the Islamic Republic of Pakistan
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Issuing Bodies
The Higher Education Commission, which replaced the
Universities Grants Commission in 2002, administers
universities across the country. Its website has an updated
list of recognized universities and degree-awarding
institutions in both the public and private sectors. The
current list of 122 universities and DAIs is given in
Appendix B.
The HEC recognizes degrees awarded by recognized private
universities or DAIs before they obtain their charter but
after they receive the No Objection Certificate (NOC)
or recommendation letter from the provincial education
departments or the HEC (or the UGC prior to 2002). The
HEC may provide attestation of such degrees as per the
request of the institutions.
Document Format
Document formats vary by issuing body and time period.
• There are often two documents: degree certificates
and marks sheets (also called marks cards, marks
certificates, statement of marks, and so on).
• Documents are usually issued in English. They can also
be issued in both English and Urdu or in Urdu only.
• They should bear the seal of the university and the
signatures of relevant officials, such as vice chancellor,
registrar, controller of examinations and secretary.
Universities and DAIs issue the degrees.
• The certificate should indicate the name of the degree
and the field of specialization (if applicable), for
example, “Bachelor of Engineering (Mechanical).”
• Some certificates indicate the division of the student
based on their overall marks or GPA, for example,
“First Division with Distinction.”
• In some programs, a student may receive only a
provisional certificate upon graduation, with the final
certificate being issued afterward.
• The certificate issued by a university sometimes
indicates the affiliated college where the instruction
took place.
Marks sheets are normally issued by universities that
conduct the major examinations.
• The marks sheets should indicate the courses or papers
completed, the marks obtained and the maximum
marks available, for example, “marks allotted: 150;
marks obtained: 76.”
• In the annual system there is typically one marks
sheet for each year, showing the result of the annual
examinations.
• The HEC favours transition to the semester system,
with final exams held, and credits or credit hours for
completed courses awarded, at the end of each semester.
• One credit or credit hour generally represents one hour
per week of instruction over the course of an 18-week
semester. In the case of practical or lab components,
it may represent two (sometimes three) weekly hours.
The marks sheet may provide the theory and practical
components of each course, for example, “4 (2–4)”
means the total credits for the course are 4, including
2 weekly hours for theory and 4 weekly hours for
practical.
• Programs that use the traditional annual system may
indicate only the total marks of each course or paper.
• Sometimes the university-issued marks sheet contains
only course codes or numbers, with the affiliated college
providing more information such as course names and
contents.
See Appendix U for sample documents for various major
higher education credentials.