President asks HEC to encourage Associate Degree Programmes.

ISLAMABAD -- President Dr Arif Alvi has asked the Higher Education Commission (HEC) to actively encourage universities to introduce and increase the number of Associate Degree Programmes as the market desperately needed more educated and skilled professionals.

He underscored that HEC must ensure fast decision making on such an important issue and regretted that the decision-makers were slow to fully comprehend the requirements of the fast-changing global market.

The President expressed these views during a briefing on Ghulam Ishaq Khan Institute of Engineering Sciences and Technology (GIKI), Topi, here at Aiwan-e-Sadr, on Friday.

The meeting was attended by Rector GIKI, Prof Dr Fazal A. Khalid, Executive Director of the Society for Promotion of Engineering Sciences and Technology (SOPREST), Shakil Durrani, members of the senior management of GIKI, representatives of HEC and Ministry of Federal Education and Professional Training.

Addressing the meeting, the President emphasised the need to increase access to higher education and produce more highly qualified and professional graduates. He also underlined the need for enhanced collaborations among universities and the industrial sector to meet the requirements of the market.

He stated that universities were required to...