HEC proposes one common entry test for undergraduate admissions
A steering committee set up by the federal education ministry has reviewed the framework and agreed to form a technical committee with deadlines to finalise it.
The Higher Education Commission has put a National Framework for Standardized Undergraduate Admissions before a federal committee, proposing that existing databases and question banks be combined into one Common Item Bank so that students face fewer separate entry tests.
The Joint Steering Committee, constituted by the Ministry of Federal Education and Professional Training, reviewed the framework, according to a Pakistan Point News report datelined 12 November. The proposal was presented to the committee by Dr Imtiaz Haider, chief executive officer of ETC-HEC.
The committee agreed to constitute a Technical Committee and to establish timelines for finalising the framework, the report said. Members expressed positive views on the proposal after the presentation.
ProPakistani reported the same proposal as a single entry test for undergraduate admissions, and likewise identified the Joint Steering Committee as the body that had reviewed the commission's plan.
The stated aims of the framework are transparency, fairness and merit in admissions, equal opportunity for students across the country, and a lighter load of tests on students and their families.
Once finalised, the framework is expected to bring uniformity to undergraduate admissions nationwide and to make the process simpler for applicants, according to the report.
The report did not give the membership of the new technical committee, the dates by which it must report, or a timeline for the framework's approval and rollout.
How the reports differ
ProPakistani led on the proposal as a single entry test for undergraduate admissions and identified the Joint Steering Committee as the body that reviewed it. Pakistan Point News, carried by UrduPoint, led instead on the committee's decision to form a technical group and set deadlines, and was alone in naming Dr Imtiaz Haider of ETC-HEC as the official who presented the framework and in dating the review to 12 November.
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