ISLAMABAD, Pakistan: Higher Education Commission (HEC) under Vision 2025 has planned to establish community colleges at district level on the model of Institute of Business Administration (IBA) Sukkur.
An official of the HEC told APP on Thursday that HEC Vision 2025 calls for setting up higher educational opportunities in each administrative district of the country to create a level playing field and the span of these colleges would be two years.
He said, these community colleges would be accessible to large number of students providing opportunities in academic, technical and vocational traits as well as enabling citizens of all ages to peruse diverse cultural programmes designed to develop their creative and problem solving skills.
He said, the IBA under this promising initiative has established five to six colleges in Sindh.
The HEC plans to add this new initiative to the mandate of TIER-II universities to create a country-wide expanded system that will not only prepare high quality professionals but educate and impart training to supporting staff.
This initiative would have HEC’s approved four semesters with 68 credit hours and associate degree programmes offered by community colleges.
This is an ambitious new dimension in tertiary education to develop expanded and growing numbers of technically competent skilled workers.
National Vocational and Technical Training Commission’s (NAVTTC) developed standards would be implemented in these colleges.
According to official, the HEC is also planning on setting up an apex National Skill University to coordinate the country-wide development of community colleges in every district of Pakistan.
During the next decade HEC plans to establish 200 special focus TIER-II and TIER-III universities, colleges and centers for advanced studies in technical and vocational skill development.
These areas would include Women Education and Skill Development, medical and allied health professions according to international standards developed by World Federation of Undergraduate and Graduate Medical Education, Engineering, Technologies and manufacturing to offer new programs in STEAM studies, Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine.
The HEC has already developed four centers for advance studies in NUST and UET Peshawar for energy, UET Mehran for Water Resources, and Agriculture University Faisalabad to foster new horizons of scholarships in Agricultural Sciences and food Security.
