How to Register a University in Pakistan through HEC

The Higher Education Commission (HEC) is an autonomous, self-governing institution that oversees the primary funding, regulation, and accreditation of the higher education system and institutions in Pakistan. If you are one of those who want to establish a new university in Pakistan and do not know the procedure, this article is just for you. It mainly focuses on how to register a university in Pakistan through HEC.

University setup can be very difficult, particularly because you will need to meet a variety of regulations. Before you start your university, you will need to decide whether you will run a physical or virtual university. Starting a virtual university can be much less expensive in terms of overhead costs. However, you will likely need advanced technical knowledge to set up and run your university.

How to Register a University in Pakistan through HEC

Let’s get started with the step-by-step procedure for how to register your university in Pakistan with HEC.

Legal Compliance

The first step to establishing a new university is to fulfill the legal formalities. For this, the university has to register under the most appropriate law of the Companies Ordinance/Societies Registration Act/Trust Act as a foundation, society, or trust constituted.

However, if you establish the institute in the public sector, you do not need to go through this formality.

Feasibility Report

Once the applicant is registered under the relevant law, the second step is to submit a comprehensive feasibility report following the General Institutional Requirements Proforma (Form PU-01). You also have to deposit PKR 20,000 as the evaluation fee of HEC. Then you have to submit the application to the Chairman, HEC.

Scrutiny

Once you submit the documents, HEC will closely observe your application. HEC will also appoint a panel to carefully study your feasibility report.

Site Visit

Suppose everything goes well and HEC accepts your feasibility report. In that case, HEC will appoint an Inspection Committee, which will conduct an initial site visit to determine the possible location of the institution, its infrastructure, and available facilities. The purpose of this visit is to ensure that the applicant is capable of running the academic programmes.

You also have to pay an inspection fee of PKR 30,000. The visit will include meetings with administrators, teaching staff, students, and support services staff.

Recommendation for the Grant of Charter

The Inspection Committee will submit its report to HEC. If the report is satisfactory, HEC will recommend the case for the grant of the Charter to the Federal Government or the Provincial Government, as the case may be. A grant of the charter means you will establish your university with the approval and under the applicable law(s) of the concerned government. You will receive the charter from Parliament, the President of Pakistan, or the Provincial Assembly or Governor of a province. For instance, if you are establishing your university in Lahore or any other city in Punjab, you will get a charter from the government of Punjab.

Endowment Fund

Now HEC will check whether the institution is financially stable and can sustain regular functioning on a long-term basis. For this purpose, the sponsor shall be required to create a non-transferable endowment fund in the name of the Society or Trust. The Endowment Fund shall be invested in the name of the institution or university.

If you are establishing a new university, you must have the following amount of endowment funds:

General Guidelines

• Applicants will apply to the Provincial Educational Department. If the applicant is located in federal territory, the application shall be made to the HEC.
• Each Provincial Government will act according to the Cabinet Criteria for evaluation and grant of charter. The HEC is usually consulted by the Provincial Governments for the whole process. For this reason, the clearance by the HEC will help facilitate the grant of the charter.
• These guidelines pertain to registration, availability of infrastructure and adequate financial resources, proposed programme of study, development of academic programme, teaching staff, admission criteria, fee structure, quality assurance mechanisms, student supervision, assessment and examination, etc. The main points of the criteria and requirements are highlighted for information on the entrepreneurs.
• A copy of the registration deed and a Memorandum of association will be supplied to examine the objectives and credentials of the members. A brief profile of each member of management should also be provided.
• The applicant must apply to the HEC and submit 5 copies of the feasibility report, including the soft copy, per the General Institutional Requirements Proforma as per Form PU-01.
• At least 10% of students should get fee exemptions and scholarships on a need basis.
• 10% of the institutional budget is specified for research.

You can check out more detailed guidelines here.

Other Services HEC Offered:

HEC provides a lot of facilities to students, researchers, staff members, and institutions. To help you develop a better understanding of the role of this department, here are the core functions of the HEC in Pakistan:

• Facilitate increased collaboration in research between academic institutions and industries.
• Streamline the process of degree attestation.
• E-services to find out the HEC-recognised Journals, E-library, HEC-recognised universities and more
• Spearheaded educational initiatives, including the establishment of technology parks.
• Enhance the infrastructure of universities throughout Pakistan.
• Provide degree equivalence certificates for better opportunities abroad.
• Focus on the professional development of faculty members.
• Facilitate access to national and international grants for academic institutions.
• Provide support for the filing of patents.
• Oversee the planning, revision, and implementation of higher education curriculums.
• Regulate and govern universities in Pakistan.
• Maintain records and rankings for universities recognized by HEC.

If you want to know how to create an account on HEC portal, click here