Higher Education Commission (HEC) has stopped 4 universities from giving admissions to students in any degree program in the red to academic irregularities and mismanagement and non-compliance even with constant reminders to justify the deficiencies.

Their sub-campuses, branches, or affiliated colleges along with main campus are not permitted to admit students in any programme. The institutions are Preston Institute of Management Sciences and Technology (PIMSAT) Karachi, Imperial College of Business Studies Lahore, Global Institute Lahore, and Al-Khair University AJK.

For reviewing quality assurance and governance practices HEC Review Panels visited universities in 2016 across Pakistan. Universities with unsatisfactory report were asked to satisfy the deficiencies, though institutions have not fulfilled regardless of reminders and, therefore, have been stopped from admitting students in academic programmes.

HEC regularly issues parent and student alerts in national and regional newspapers along with through social media, warning the public to check from HEC website the list of recognized institutions in addition to accredited programmes. HEC warned students to not attest degrees or certificates obtained from such universities or institutes claiming their affiliation.

Parents and students can check the status of an institution they consider for admission from lists of recognized and non-recognized higher education institutions posted by HEC through hec.gov.pk/site/HEIs.

List of Accreditation Councils is also there on HEC website which are responsible for accreditation of respective degree programmes including Pakistan Bar Council (PBC), Pakistan Council for Architects and Town Planners (PCATP), Pakistan Engineering Council (PEC), Pakistan Medical & Dental Council (PMDC), Pakistan Nursing Council (PNC), Pakistan Pharmacy Council (PCP), Pakistan Veterinary Medical Council (PVMC), National Council for Homoeopathy (NCH), National Council for Tibb (NCT), National Accreditation Council for Teachers Education (NACTE), National Agricultural Education Accreditation Council (NAEAC), National Computing Education Accreditation Council (NCEAC), and National Business Education Accreditation Council (NBEAC).

Pakistan Qualification Register (PQR), online database containing list of approved degree programmes of HEC recognized public and private sector universities and sub campuses and affiliated constituent colleges is under progress by HEC.

PQR is aimed to deliver levels of knowledge, skills and competencies to be acquired by every graduate. The Register is linked to several HEC programmes and ingenuities like degrees attestation, local and overseas scholarships, appointment of HEC approved supervisors, award of national research grants, thematic research grants for social sciences, etc.

To streamline above-mentioned processes majority of universities havegiven the information, but some universities with slow reponse are being advised to enter their degree programmes in PQR as soon as possible