Education in Pakistan is divided into five levels: primary (grades one through five); middle (grades six through eight); high (grades nine and ten, leading to the Secondary School Certificate); intermediate (grades eleven and twelve, leading to a Higher Secondary School Certificate); and university programs leading to graduate and advanced degrees.

All academic education institutions are the responsibility of the provincial governments. The federal government mostly assists in curriculum development, accreditation and some financing of research.

Historical background
When Pakistan gained independence in 1947 from British India, West Pakistan had only one institution of higher education], the University of the Punjab; East Pakistan had the University of Dhaka. Over the next 20 years, many private and public schools and higher education institutions were established to help fuel the country’s socio-economic development.

In the early 1970s, all of Pakistan’s educational institutions were nationalized under the government of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, who was committed to the idea of Islamic Socialism. Still Pakistan's education system is considered one of the few leading education system in the world and some Pakistani universities and school are highly renowned for their standards internationally.

For the next decade, Pakistan’s entire system of education was state-run. However, the growing demand for higher education fast outpaced the establishment of new public universities. During that period, the system could accommodate only 25 percent of the high school graduates who applied to higher education institutions. The overcrowding prompted many wealthy Pakistanis to seek university degrees abroad in the United States, Great Britain and Australia, while others sought out private tutors at home or entered the job market without a degree.

In 1979 a government commission reviewed the consequences of nationalization and concluded that in view of the poor participation rates at all levels of education, the public sector could no longer be the country’s sole provider of education. By the mid-1980s, private educational institutions were allowed to operate on the condition that they comply with government-recognized standards.

Until 1991, there were only two recognized private universities in Pakistan: Aga Khan University established in 1983; and Lahore University of Management Sciences established in 1985. By 1997, however, there were 10 private universities and in 2001-2002, this number had doubled to 20. In 2003-2004 Pakistan had a total of 53 private degree granting institutions.

The rapid expansion of private higher education is even more remarkable if we look at the number of institutions established on a year-by-year basis. In 1997, for instance, three private institutions were established; in 2001 eleven new private institutions were opened; and in 2002 a total of 29 private sector institutions sprung up.

The Government has decided to introduce 'English Medium Education' on a phased basis and to substantially end the right to 'Mother Tongue Education'. This new policy which is termed 'Education Sector Reforms (Policy decisions)', states that "English language has been made compulsory from Class-1 onwards." and the "Introduction of English as medium of instruction for Science, Mathematics, Computer Science and other selected subjects like Economics and Geography in all schools in a graduated manner."

Caretaker Minister for Education Mr. Shujaat Ali Beg declared Jan 25, 2008 that eighteen colleges of the city of Karachi would be made "Model English Medium Colleges,"'

A child may begin his/her schooling at a pre-school at the age of 3. Over the last few years, many new kindergarten (sometimes called montessori) schools have also sprung up in Pakistan.

Post-secondaryStudents can then proceed to a College or University for Bachelor of Arts (BA) or Science (BSc) or Commerce/Business Administration (BCom/BBA) degree courses. There are two types of Bachelor courses in Pakistan namely Pass or Honours. Pass constitutes two years of study and students normally read three optional subjects (such as Chemistry, Mathematics, Economics, Statistics) in addition to almost equal number of compulsory subjects (such as English, Pakistan Studies and Islamic Studies) whereas Honours are three or four years and students normally specialize in a chosen field of study such as Biochemistry (BSc Hons. Biochemistry). It is important to note that Pass Bachelors is now slowly being phased out for Honours throughout the country. Students may also after earning their HSSC may study for professional Bachelor degree courses such as engineering (B Engg), medicine (MBBS), vetrinary medicine(DVM) law (LLB), agriculture (B Agri), architecture (B Arch), nursing (B Nurs) etc. which are of four or five years duration depending on the degree.Further after passing the diploma of associate engineer(3-Year study after SSC)can take in admission in B.Tech engineering.B.Tech(Hon's) degree consists of four years.

Some Masters Degrees also consist of 1.5 years. Then there are PhD Education as well in selected areas. One has to choose specific field and the suitable university doing research work in that field. PhD in Pakistan consists of minimum 3-5 years.

Pakistani universities churn out almost 1.2 million skilled graduates annually. The government has announced a $1 billion spending plan over the next decade to build 6 state-of-the-art science and engineering universities. The scheme would be overseen by the Higher Education Commission.


[edit] Pre-school

Education in Pakistan is divided into five levels: primary (grades one through five); middle (grades six through eight); high (grades nine and ten, leading to the Secondary School Certificate); intermediate (grades eleven and twelve, leading to a Higher Secondary School Certificate); and university programs leading to graduate and advanced degrees.

All academic education institutions are the responsibility of the provincial governments. The federal government mostly assists in curriculum development, accreditation and some financing of research.

Foreign students leaving UK debts

The Student Loans Company says 2,240 students should have begun repayments but 1,580 are not accounted for.

A Spanish student said she had heard nothing five years after graduating.

The government says the SLC is doing what it can to track people down. Take-up of the entitlement is growing fast, with 46,000 now having borrowed £130m.

Students from EU countries have been eligible for low interest loans from the British taxpayer to pay for their tuition fees since 2006.

EU students are entitled to the same allowances as those in the countries in which they study.

So the loans are available for those at universities in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. EU students at Scottish universities do not normally have to pay fees.

Most of those involved are still at university so are not due to begin repaying loans until the year after graduation or withdrawal from university, and once they are earning more than £15,000. Lower salary levels apply in most other European countries.

SLC figures show that 2,240 students were due to begin repayment in 2007 and 2008. But 59% of those due to start paying back their loans in 2007 did not do so, while last year that number rose to 70%.

According to the SLC records those students, some 1,580 of them, are unaccounted for. The loans for both years were worth about £3.8m.

'Shockingly ineffective'

Experts believe this is a warning sign of much larger repayment problems to come when greater numbers of EU students start graduating.

David Willetts MP, Shadow Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills believes the SLC is not doing enough to track students down once they leave the country.

"It's very important that the Student Loans Company is as energetic in collecting debt built up by students across the continent of Europe as they must be in collecting debts from students in Britain," he said.

"The evidence that we're getting already shows that the Student Loans Company is being shockingly ineffective in collecting money that's owed."

One Spanish former student who graduated from a university in England almost five years ago.

Now living in her home country, she said she had been surprised that she had had no communication from the SLC about repaying her loan since graduating. She asked not to have her name published.

"If you don't have anyone reminding you that you owe them money, and that you have to pay, you can forget about it," she said.

"You don't live there and you have other priorities. It's quite easy just to forget.

"If you owe money to the bank but then you don't hear from them, then you just don't worry. It's just human nature."

Voluntary

This graduate owes £10,000 and said that in the end she became concerned that the size of her loan was increasing because of interest, so she contacted the SLC herself. She has just begun repaying the loan voluntarily.

"It is a loan, and when you sign a contract you have to pay it back. It's my responsibility to do so," she said.

However she added that she knew of several other students who were not intending to pay back their loans until they heard from the SLC.

Students applying for loans always have to provide a permanent address, such as their parents' home address.

But a spokesman for the SLC said it did not routinely write to parents' addresses because it might be a breach of data protection rules.

Universities learn shares of £8bn

Almost £8bn has been divided up by the funding council (Hefce) for 2009-10, 4% more than last year, with £4.8bn for teaching and £1.5bn for research.

Research grants reflected the recent assessment exercise, giving priority to those with the highest quality work.

But some prestigious universities have seen their share of funding cut.

Conversely, some of England's newest universities, along with many university colleges and specialist institutions, were better off for having improved their research performance.


Universities learn shares of £8bn

Thursday, March 05, 2009




English universities with a heavy involvement in science have had funding protected at the expense of the social sciences, arts and humanities.

Almost £8bn has been divided up by the funding council (Hefce) for 2009-10, 4% more than last year, with £4.8bn for teaching and £1.5bn for research.

Research grants reflected the recent assessment exercise, giving priority to those with the highest quality work.

But some prestigious universities have seen their share of funding cut.

Conversely, some of England's newest universities, along with many university colleges and specialist institutions, were better off for having improved their research performance.




The GuildHE organisation which represents them welcomed the decision.

"The announcement today is a just reward for academic colleagues in institutions that do not claim to be research-led; many of whom had made significant strides forward in research excellence on the basis of very limited financial support," it said.

'Victim'

Diana Warwick, chief executive of vice-chancellors group Universities UK, said: "We are pleased with this recognition of the world-class strength of the UK's research base, though we also note that some institutions face funding challenges as the result of changes in research allocations."

The London School of Economics (LSE) saw its overall grant for research and teaching drop by 0.8% with research funding cut by more than 13%.

In a statement, the LSE said it was "disappointed" as its performance in the research assessment exercise had been "outstanding".

"The LSE is a victim of the Hefce funding formula which implements government policy to protect the Stem subjects (science-medicine, technology, engineering and maths) at the expense of social sciences, arts and humanities," it added.

In the non-Stem areas, faculty and student numbers had grown more rapidly, and the potential for small pockets of research excellence was greater.

The rector of Imperial College London, Sir Roy Anderson, said he was "reassured" the leading universities were the main recipients of research funding - but noted their share of these funds had declined.

'World class'

Sir Roy said: "At a time when the UK is looking to its science, technology and medicine powerhouses for ideas and innovations to help lead the economic recovery, it can't have been intended that we could be reducing the share of, and in many cases, actual, research funds to institutions which have demonstrated sustained excellence across successive research assessments."

He added: "It is surprising that Imperial College London, ranked top of all UK institutions for its proportion of research judged world-leading or internationally excellent should suffer a real decline in its allocation of research funding."

Universities secretary John Denham described Britain's university sector as "world class".

"The government is committed to ensuring that it remains so through a well-funded, successful and independent higher education sector," he said.

But his Tory shadow, David Willetts, described the cut in funding for some of the leading institutions as "a mess of ministers' own making".

"It is the wholly predictable result of their policy to spread money too thinly and it is a great pity that our world-class institutions like Imperial and the LSE have lost out, especially when we need them so badly at tough times like this," he added.

Six months teacher training plan

Schools Minister Jim Knight announced proposals aimed at tempting more outstanding people to teach.

Two hundred people seen as future head teachers will also be able to move into school leadership within four years via an accelerated headship programme.

Education unions have reacted with alarm and scepticism about the need for the schemes or their practicability.

'Life experience'

The changes are part of the government's wide ranging Working Together public service reform paper, being published by the prime minister.

Its proposals include offering people the chance to rate health and childcare services online, as well as comparing police and council performance.

Mr Knight said: "There are thousands of highly talented individuals in this country who are considering their next move, who want to do something challenging, rewarding, that is highly respected and where good people have great prospects.
"My message to them is to see what they can offer teaching and what teaching can offer them."

He added: "By cutting the initial teacher training course to six months for the most able candidates, we will make teaching a more attractive choice for experienced people who want to get into the classroom quickly but need high quality initial teacher training."


Cabinet Office Minister Liam Byrne told the plan was to intensify training for "good people" with "life experience behind them".

"We know there are a lot of fantastic mathematicians, for example, who would have once perhaps gone into the City but now actually might be more interested in a career in teaching," he said.

Liberal Democrat education spokesman David Laws said the government's plan was "timid", ducking an opportunity to bring about much-needed reform of the education system.

"Getting more talented people into the teaching profession and school leaderships roles is important.

"But ministers need to couple this with giving all schools extra freedoms and more money so that they can focus on raising standards."

Shadow schools secretary Michael Gove also said the government could go further.

"We have been calling for much greater power for heads over recruitment, the need for greater rewards for good teachers and specialists, and much greater flexibility in teacher training, including a new graduate scheme based on going straight into the classroom."

'Gimmicks'

Education unions are to be consulted over the next few weeks on the details of the programmes, which have yet to be finalised.

But one union said the scheme did not seem to be addressing an urgent need - especially when enquiries about teacher training have jumped as the recession has taken hold.

The general secretary of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers, Mary Bousted, said: "We have fought very hard to make this a graduate profession and I have grave doubts that you can accelerate teacher training like this."
England's Department for Children, Schools and Families said the fast track teacher training scheme would be aimed at people with several years' professional experience in areas such as the financial services or hi-tech industries.

But Dr Bousted said: "It sounds like an employment scheme for unemployed bankers, but this may not be the best way to go about it."

She added: "I'm becoming very worried about the plethora of different gimmicks and initiatives the government is coming out with - this looks very much like back-of-the-fag-packet stuff."

An existing scheme - known as Teach First - recruits high calibre graduates and, after six weeks' initial training, places them in tough schools to continue learning the ropes for a year.

They then are expected to continue teaching for another year before moving into their intended careers.

Agha Khan University Message

Dean's Message




Read in Urdu

I am pleased to welcome you to Aga Khan University Medical College (AKU-MC) website. The Medical College, which commenced its operation in 1983, is an academic unit of the Faculty of Health Sciences, alongside the School of Nursing. In the Medical College, in addition to the MBBS degree in Medicine, we offer an MSc in Epidemiology and Biostatistics and an MSc in Health Policy and Management, both centred in the Department of Community Health Sciences. We also offer a PhD in Health Sciences, a multi-disciplinary programme with a focus on the basic sciences. We have an extensive Postgraduate Medical Education (PGME) programme comprised currently of 20 residency and nine Fellowship programmes in clinical disciplines. In addition, PGME programmes are offered in East Africa.

Our faculty members are devoted to the highest standard of education, scholarship, research, and patient care. Research in all our academic units continue to take on increasing importance and we are competitive internationally in a number of research areas.

We are proud of the great strides and advances that the faculty has made over the past two decades. We anticipate continued growth and greater accomplishments in all our endeavours.

Dr Farhat Abbas
Interim Dean
Aga Khan University Medical College

January 1, 2009

Education in Pakistan

When Pakistan gained independence in 1947 from British India, West Pakistan had only one institution of higher education], the University of the Punjab; East Pakistan had the University of Dhaka. Over the next 20 years, many private and public schools and higher education institutions were established to help fuel the country’s socio-economic development.

In the early 1970s, all of Pakistan’s educational institutions were nationalized under the government of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, who was committed to the idea of Islamic Socialism. Still Pakistan's education system is considered one of the few leading education system in the world and some Pakistani universities and school are highly renowned for their standards internationally.

For the next decade, Pakistan’s entire system of education was state-run. However, the growing demand for higher education fast outpaced the establishment of new public universities. During that period, the system could accommodate only 25 percent of the high school graduates who applied to higher education institutions. The overcrowding prompted many wealthy Pakistanis to seek university degrees abroad in the United States, Great Britain and Australia, while others sought out private tutors at home or entered the job market without a degree.

In 1979 a government commission reviewed the consequences of nationalization and concluded that in view of the poor participation rates at all levels of education, the public sector could no longer be the country’s sole provider of education. By the mid-1980s, private educational institutions were allowed to operate on the condition that they comply with government-recognized standards.

Until 1991, there were only two recognized private universities in Pakistan: Aga Khan University established in 1983; and Lahore University of Management Sciences established in 1985. By 1997, however, there were 10 private universities and in 2001-2002, this number had doubled to 20. In 2003-2004 Pakistan had a total of 53 private degree granting institutions.

The rapid expansion of private higher education is even more remarkable if we look at the number of institutions established on a year-by-year basis. In 1997, for instance, three private institutions were established; in 2001 eleven new private institutions were opened; and in 2002 a total of 29 private sector institutions sprung up.

The Government has decided to introduce 'English Medium Education' on a phased basis and to substantially end the right to 'Mother Tongue Education'. This new policy which is termed 'Education Sector Reforms (Policy decisions)', states that "English language has been made compulsory from Class-1 onwards." and the "Introduction of English as medium of instruction for Science, Mathematics, Computer Science and other selected subjects like Economics and Geography in all schools in a graduated manner."

Caretaker Minister for Education Mr. Shujaat Ali Beg declared Jan 25, 2008 that eighteen colleges of the city of Karachi would be made "Model English Medium Colleges,"'