UHS Lahore cuts HSSC marks for allied health admissions to 50%

The University of Health Sciences (UHS), Lahore has reduced the minimum Higher Secondary School Certificate (HSSC) marks required for admission to its four-year BS Allied Health Sciences programmes from 60% to 50%, a decision the university says is in line with Higher Education Commission policy.

The change was approved at UHS's 96th Syndicate meeting, chaired by Vice Chancellor Maj Gen (R) Prof Dr Sohail Sabir, according to ProPakistani, which reported the decisions taken in the session.

Under the revised rule, an applicant with at least 50% marks in the HSSC examinations will meet the minimum academic threshold for the four-year programmes, provided the other admission requirements are met. The practical effect falls at the eligibility stage: candidates who scored between 50% and 60% and were previously filtered out before the merit process can now apply.

For applicants, the entrance-test and other conditions attached to admission remain in place; only the academic floor has moved by ten percentage points. UHS has not specified a date from which the lowered requirement will take effect, and the report did not say how many additional applicants the university expects as a result.

The Syndicate also approved amendments to the eligibility criteria for selected MPhil and PhD programmes, along with revisions to admission-test requirements. The report did not set out the substance of those changes.

Five new PhD programmes were approved, in Nursing, Pharmacy, Public Health, Oral Biology and Medical Laboratory Sciences. The meeting further cleared 1,100 additional evening seats in BS programmes at 18 public-sector nursing colleges across Punjab.

The report did not say when the new PhD programmes would begin or when the additional evening seats would become available to students.

UHS is based in Lahore and sets admission and examination requirements for health sciences programmes at its affiliated institutions. Its Syndicate is the forum that signs off on academic and admissions policy, and the 96th meeting covered undergraduate eligibility, postgraduate criteria and new programme approvals in a single session.