Govt moves to strengthen IT education standards

Business Recorder reported that Senator Ahad Cheema, the federal minister for economic affairs and establishment, wants a wide-ranging system to deal with IT institutions lacking accreditation. Chairing a senior meeting that reviewed the IT Skills Assessment Test and computing-education accreditation rules, he asked the Ministry of Information Technology to count graduates from such institutions and gauge how large the issue is. He also pressed for joint action to stop admissions into colleges and programmes that lack the required approval.

Cheema wants prospective students to get reliable details on whether universities, affiliated colleges and individual programmes are accredited before they apply. Participants in the IT Skills Assessment Test numbered more than 33,000 across 188 institutions, and he asked for the test to be aligned with international standards and changing industry needs. A comprehensive report is to review institutional performance and examine cases where graduates fail the skills test or pass it without completing their degrees.

Cheema also pressed for stronger industry-academia cooperation so that IT degrees lead to employable skills. Officials were told to engage P@SHA and other stakeholders, while the proposed mandatory competency tests will be examined for their effects on students and institutions before any decision. Coordination among HEC, NCEAC, the IT ministry and provincial education authorities was also called for, with a follow-up report due.