The entrance of Karachi University.
More than 80 state-run colleges affiliated with the University of Karachi (KU) have not announced admissions to their degree programmes for the academic year 2021 due to a decision taken by the Higher Education Commission of Pakistan (HEC) in November last year, which fully enforced the associate degree programme introduced in 2011.
The KU is yet to announce its policy on whether or not its affiliated colleges should offer admissions to the traditional two-year degree programme that has been nullified by the HEC or the two-year associate degree programme sanctioned by the commission.
Owing to this uncertainty, the fate of thousands of students is hanging in the balance. Neither are the colleges offering admissions to the HEC-sanctioned associate programme nor are they able continue with the traditional BA and BSc or four-year BS.