KARACHI: The Sindh government is expected to grant a charter to two new private universities in the next few months, while the process for regularizing another two universities has been initiated.
“The provincial government has completed the process of granting a charter to two institutions and a draft regarding the matter is in the final stages of approval,” said a Government of Sindh Charter Inspection and Evaluation Committee official. He revealed that the committee had inspected the facilities and infrastructure of the private institutes. “In its inspection, the committee evaluated the administration standards, availability of facilities, academic programs offered, enrolment criteria, examination standards, fee structure, syllabus, faculty criteria and research programs of the universities before deciding to grant them the charter,” he added.
The universities expected to get a charter are the Institute of Business Administration (IBA) and the National Law University. However, two more institutes are being considered for the degree-awarding status, namely the DHA University and the Abdullah Haroon University. With the addition of the two new private universities that are expected to get a charter, the total number of private universities in the province will rise to 29, and if all four of the universities are given a charter, the total number will rise to 31.
The universities that are already chartered include the Institute of Business Management, Iqra University, Hamdard University, Aga Khan University, Institute of Technology, Dadabhoy Institute of Higher Education, Greenwich University, Indus Institute of Higher Education, Newport Institute of Communication, Ziauddin Medical University, Baqai Medical University, SZABIST Karachi, Khadim Ali Shah Bukhari Institue of Technology, Sir Syed University of Engineering and Technology, Isra University Hyderabad, Muhammad Ali Jinnah University, Indus Valley Institute of Arts and Architecture, Jinnah University for Women, Textile Institute of Pakistan, Karachi Institute of Commerce and Technology, Princeton Institute of Management Sciences and Technology and Princeton University, University of East Hyderabad, DHA Suffa University and Nazir Hussain University.