The Higher Education Commission (HEC) arranged a meeting with the Pakistan Veterinary Medical Council (PVMC) and the Arid Agriculture University Rawalpindi (AAUR) vice chancellor to discuss the issue of the non recognition of the AAUR students’ degrees.
The commission took notice of the protests staged by the university’s students.Speaking on the occasion, HEC Executive Director Sohail Naqvi stressed the importance of the issue and noted that the veterinary students’ futures were at stake as their programme was not registered with the veterinary council.
PVMC President Dr Muhammad Arshad said the PVMC would not compromise on the quality of the veterinary education being offered in Pakistan.
AAUR Vice Chancellor Dr Khalid Mehmood said although the university had not met some of the minimum standards for the programme’s accreditation, it had been assigned a two-month grace period to fulfill the requirements.
It was decided that PVMC delegations would visit the university in the first week of March to assess the situation and decide on its accreditation.
It is relevant to note here that AAUR students have been protesting for the last several months against the non-accreditation of their degrees. They also held a demonstration outside the HEC to seek its support. The protesting students said they were assured at the time of their admissions that their degrees were PVMC approved. They called off their strike on the request of HEC officials, who assured the students that the HEC would arrange a meeting of the AAUR VC and PVMC officials.
