RAWALPINDI: Over the last 18 months, the Higher Education Commission (HEC) has held consultations with more than 1,000 individuals in 143 universities on measures to enhance student success, leading to the revamping of the undergraduate curriculum and the introduction of “competency-based education”.

Several key meetings were organised in 2019 along with two national dialogues, five regional consultations and 10 thematic workshops. These involved 143 universities across the country with more than a thousand people, including vice chancellors and rectors, faculty members, college principals, officials from higher education departments and the heads and officials of professional councils.

In a press release, HEC Chairman Dr Tariq Banuri said that the purpose of education is to enable students to succeed in their future, not only professionally but in their social, political and personal endeavours.

New system to be rolled out over coming year

“Universities have to work in such a way as to maximise the probability of such success, especially through the undergraduate degree programme, which is the flagship of any higher education system,” he said.

He added that the new system is explicitly based on “competencies”, determinants of future student success, and is designed to ensure educational programmes orient themselves to students’ future needs. The new system will be rolled out over the coming year, he said.

Dr Banuri said that the old undergraduate curriculum does not provide students with skills for critical and creative thinking, problem solving, effective communication, quantitative analysis, team building or research methods. The new curriculum is designed to enable the transmission of these skills as well as interpersonal and behavioural attributes, he said.

The framework will apply to all undergraduate degrees, including the four-year bachelor studies degree (BS), degrees in any of the professions - MBBS, BE., LLB, and the like - as well as two-year associate degrees (AD). The new undergraduate programmes will also make it possible for students to switch between degree programmes.

For instance, AD holders may apply for admission to a BS programme and receive a transfer of credits from their AD to the BS programme. Similarly, a student admitted to the BS programme may exit with an AD after fulfilling the credit requirements for the shorter degree.

A student admitted to a professional degree programme may apply for transfer to a general degree programme, or vice versa, provided they meet the admissions criteria of the admitting institution. This will also determine how many of the earned course credits and completed practical experience hours can be transferred.

Partial support for the rolling out of the new undergraduate curriculum has been received from the World Bank-funded Higher Education Development in Pakistan (HEDP).

Published in Dawn, July 15th, 2020