Background of Accreditation in Pakistan

Quality in higher education is not a new thing in Pakistan. At the time of independence, Pakistan has only one higher institute “University of Punjab” and forty colleges. It was recommended to expand higher education institutions in Pakistan. This expansion also gave birth to the University Grant Commission in 1947. Standards in medical education were recommended first time in Health Conference in 1947 as per the Indian Medical Council Act of 1933 (Bengali, 1999; Isani, 2001; Ullah, 2005). Punjab, Sindh, North, and West provinces held their exclusive Nursing councils assisting Provisional Nursing Council and Midwifery Boards under Indian Nursing Council. In 1948, Pakistan Nursing Council (PNC) was established unofficially. In the year 1949, Central Nursing Council was established to interact at the provisional level. PNC was officially constituted under the Act of 1952 (PNC, 2016). It was functioned to improve the training of nurses, empower midwives, certify nursing institutes and nurses, licensed Lady Health Visitors (LHVs), and regulate medical health services in Pakistan (“Pakistan Medical & Dental Council > About Us,” 2016). Later, in 1951, Pakistan Medical Council Act was established in replacement of the Indian Medical Council Act. In 1957, West Pakistan Medical Council was established. In this council, West Pakistan, Sindh, and Punjab have emerged. In 1958, National Education Commission was established led by S.M. Shareef. Later, in 1959, this commission planned a new educational policy and submitted a report (Shareef Commission Report). This report strongly emphasized increasing specialists in education and improve quality in higher education (Ullah, 2005). In 1962, Pakistan Medical and Dental Council were established. This council has developed a uniformity of standards in medical education in Pakistan. Most of the standards and criteria for quality in medical education were constituted under this council (Pakistan Code, 2016). In 1965, Unani Ayurvedic and Homoeopathic (UAH) Act was passed to establish National Council for Homeopathy (NCH). NCH regulates the registration and license of Unani and homeopathic education. In the same year, National Council for Tibb (NCT) and Pakistan Mental Health Authority (PMHA) were also established. NCT promotes a system of medicine in ayurvedic and homeopathic. PMHA was registered later in 1970 under voluntary Social Welfare Agencies Ordinance 1961 (Pakistan Code, 2016). In 1967, Pharmacy Council Pakistan (PCP) was established. PCP registers pharmacists and promotes pharmacy education under the Act of 1973. According to this act, the provisional level of the council was dissolved. Now, a National level council was introduced which is known as Pakistan Nursing Council. The major revision was synchronized development in nursing with international standards(PNC, 2016). In 1972, the quality of higher education suffered (Ullah, 2005). When Educational policy 1972 to 1980 recommend nationalization, and this made benefits to the institutions and teachers but decrease quality in higher education. However, in this era, Legal Practitioners and Bar Councils Act was approved in 1973.

This is also known as Pakistan Bar Council (PBC). PBC has the supervisory authority and control on Provisional Bar councils (PBC, 2016). In 1776, the National Assembly of Pakistan approved the Act of, 1976 and PEC was established. PEC regulates engineering education in Pakistan. The establishment of PEC was a landmark for national development. It provides rules and regulations for engineering education (“Brief History,” 2017). The managers of the 1992 policy have totally relied on quality improvement in education. They made the quality of education one of the main objectives rather than sub-headings of policy. This policy included updated infrastructure, revision of University Act Pakistan, amendments in UGC, revision of academic standards, and incentives for higher education. As well, accreditation at a national level and the National Council of Academic Awards would be launched through this policy. However, unfortunately, this policy was not implemented due to political instability. In 1999, Pakistan Veterinary Medical Council was established under the Act 1996. It is a statutory organization to regulate and registered veterinarian practices in Pakistan. In National Education Policy (NEP) 1998-2010 many recommendations applied as changes in the structure of higher education were powerful autonomy of institutions, decentralization of education, amendments in university acts, amendments in UGC, transparency in assessment and accountability, and national level accreditation to maintain quality of HEIs (Bengali, 1999; Haider et al., 2015; Isani, 2001). Yet, again targets were remained unaccomplished as the 1999 government was ousted (Ullah, 2005).