Islamabad, November 24, 2023: The Higher Education Development in Pakistan (HEDP) project team of the Higher Education Commission (HEC) met with Secretary Higher Education Department, Government of Balochistan, Mr. Zafar Buledi to discuss the way forward in building the professional capacity of teachers and student assessment for implementing the revised Undergraduate Education Policy (UEP) 2020.
The officials explored opportunities for collaboration in uplifting the standard of higher education in affiliated colleges in Balochistan, ensuring their on-ground support to the HEDP team in reaching out to the far-flung areas of the province to equip teachers with new methodologies and technologies. All affiliated colleges, constituting the tertiary education system of Pakistan, are under the administrative control of provinces, and the project is rolling out its activities in close collaboration with all provincial departments nationwide.
Consultant HEC Dr. Syed Afaq Husain introduced the salient features of the revised UEP by emphasising that the successful implementation of the policy depends on the preparedness of teachers, who constitute the foundation of an education system. It is imperative that the faculty of higher education institutes can use new teaching methodologies and technologies to manage this paradigm shift from earlier 2-year degrees to new associate degree and bachelor’s degree programmes.
Principals were also briefed on the new Learning Skills Assessment Test (LSAT) developed with the support of HEDP, which will be conducted throughout the country for a large sample of undergraduate students.
This test will help compare the learning skills of students and gauge the learning achievements through revised UEP. The meeting was followed by an orientation session at the Government Post Graduate College Quetta Cantt, jointly organized by the Director of Colleges and Higher Education, Dr. Kaleem Ullah Zahid, and the Office of the Deputy Director of Admin Colleges, HED Balochistan. Thirty principals of colleges from Quetta and its suburbs attended the orientation session, including sixteen of whom were female.
The revised UEP 2020 was approved by the HEC and is being implemented from Fall 2023; however, the success of a policy depends on the preparedness of teachers who constitute the foundation of an education system. For the successful implementation of the UEP, the faculty of higher education institutes must understand it well and be prepared to implement it in letter and spirit. The affiliated colleges are undergoing a transition from an annual system to a semester system under the education policy 2020. The introduction of associate degree programmes and bachelor’s degree programmes requires significant procedural and regulation changes in student admission, enrolment, registration, advisement system, internship, capstone project, assessment methods, attendance system, course design and conduct, learning management system, and using technology in teaching and assessment. For this, HEC is reaching out to all affiliated colleges across Pakistan to orient them.
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