The Higher Education Commission (HEC) has instructed universities to announce exam guidelines because trying to drop exams will have serious repercussions.
The purpose of exams is to reward students for actions that will make them successful in their future lives.
President HEC Tariq Banuri said this in a meeting with the Vice Chancellors and Rectors of all public and private universities in the country.
He answered a question about whether universities should support students without an exam.
Examinations and assessments are an integral part of the teaching process. Attempts to eliminate exams will have severe repercussions for educational quality and student achievement. Only fake degree mills issue degrees and certificates without verification.
This was the fourth meeting between the HEC and the Vice Chancellors since the emergence of the coronavirus pandemic.
It was convened to achieve consensus on examination guidelines, admissions guidelines, academic quality and the academic calendar during the pandemic.
It was decided at the meeting that all universities should announce their guidelines for exams and admissions within one week. All attempts are made to protect the academic calendar.
The special problems of doctoral students are addressed. HEC will set up an appointment system to track student complaints.
The Vice Chancellors shared their views and commended the HEC for its proactive approach to the upcoming academic difficulties associated with university closures and closings. They agreed to develop their exam guidelines based on the type of exams that were tailored to their respective feasibility scenarios and student needs.
Participants agreed that the HEC and universities share common goals as they save the semester, avoid disruptions in the academic calendar, motivate students to continue learning, and address graduate problems.
The academic leadership agrees that this semester must not be wasted. There was also a common concern that disruptions in academic calendars are expensive and take a long time to resolve, since the interruption in the 1980s resulted in a loss of time and quality with lasting effects. Every effort must be made to maintain educational activities in this difficult time in order to minimize disruptions in the academic calendar.
The HEC instructed the universities to formulate transparent guidelines for taking exams at the end of the semester and to make them public. HEC has examined approaches from universities around the world and shared the most successful options with universities.
However, each option was associated with considerable advantages and disadvantages. Universities can use any combination of options provided they meet the minimum standards for readiness and share the guidelines publicly.
Please review these options that we discussed today, formulate a clear policy on how this will be done, and share the policy as well as additional guidelines with your students, faculty as well as HEC.
Given the recent decisions by the selection boards to announce the results based on previous exams, a clear admission policy is also required. Universities were asked to decide how to evaluate these results in order to make admission decisions.
HEC will distribute regulatory guidelines for exams and admissions to ensure that student concerns are not ignored and every effort is made to ensure the quality of education.
The chairman said that Pakistan is experiencing a national emergency and that the HEC and universities are obliged in their capacity to provide public services by fulfilling their obligations. He said the students raised a number of concerns, including the quality of online teaching, connectivity issues and uncertainty about exams.
The universities had initiated measures on quality issues and their reports are being evaluated by HEC. Efforts are also being made to resolve some of the connectivity issues that students face through working with PTA and telecommunications companies and making targeted investments in support programs. Finally, universities must introduce transparent assessment guidelines to remove the uncertainty and confusion of the plaguing students.
The participants also discussed how the current crisis can be used to improve the quality and effectiveness of teaching. The future scenario is uncertain and the university closure until July 15, 2020 could be extended. This has required decisions and steps from both the HEC and the universities regarding online tuition, exams and admissions. These decisions could also help to improve the educational experience later.
The Chairman also urged the Vice Chancellor to take urgent measures to solve graduates’ problems and to make decisions about new admissions, theses and use of laboratories. He said HEC shared its thesis defense guidelines with the universities so that they could be online.
ہائر ایجوکیشن کمیشن نے یونیورسٹیوں کو اپنی امتحانات کی پالیسیوں کے اعلان کرنے کی ہدایت
ہائیر ایجوکیشن کمیشن (ایچ ای سی) نے یونیورسٹیوں کو ہدایت کی ہے کہ وہ امتحانات کی پالیسیوں کا اعلان کریں کیونکہ امتحانات کے خاتمے کی کوششوں پر سخت پریشانی ہوگی۔
امتحانات کا مقصد طلباء کو ان اعمال کا بدلہ دینا ہے جو انھیں آئندہ کی زندگی میں کامیاب بنائیں گے۔
یہ بات چیئرمین ایچ ای سی طارق بنوری نے ملک کی تمام سرکاری و نجی یونیورسٹیوں کے وائس چانسلرز اور ریکٹرس سے ملاقات میں کہی۔
کورونا وائرس وبائی امراض کے آغاز کے بعد سے ایچ ای سی اور وائس چانسلرز کے مابین یہ چوتھی ملاقات تھی۔
اس وبائی امراض کے دوران امتحان پالیسی ، داخلہ پالیسی ، تعلیمی معیار ، اور تعلیمی تقویم پر اتفاق رائے حاصل کرنے کے لئے اجلاس کیا گیا تھا۔
اجلاس میں فیصلہ کیا گیا کہ تمام یونیورسٹییں ایک ہفتہ کے اندر امتحانات اور داخلہ سے متعلق اپنی پالیسیوں کا اعلان کریں گی۔ تعلیمی تقویم کے تحفظ کے لئے تمام کوششیں کی جائیں گی۔
گریجویٹ طلباء کو درپیش خصوصی پریشانیوں کا ازالہ کیا جائے گا۔ ایچ ای سی طلبہ کی شکایات پر عمل کرنے کے لئے اپیلٹ سسٹم قائم کرے گی۔
