HEC body satisfied at UET postgraduate programmes

PESHAWAR: The Quality Assurance Agency (QAA) of Higher Education Commission (HEC) and the committee of experts from various universities reviewed the postgraduate programmes during their two-day visit to the University of Engineering and Technology, Peshawar.

The committee was headed by Engr Prof Dr Muhammad Tufail Jokhio (NED University Karachi), Engr Prof Dr Abdul Qayyum (PEAS Islamabad), Engr Dr Syed Athar Masood (IIU Islamabad) and Pir Qasim Shah, deputy director QAA, HEC Islamabad.

The visit was aimed to review the postgraduate programmes of UET Peshawar to examine its compliance with the HEC's minimum criteria/guidelines and enhance their quality to make them internationally compatible.

Dr Imran Ahmad Director QEC UET Peshawar apprised the committee of various programmes offered by the university and academic, research and developmental progress of the university.

Later, the committee members also met the scholars of MS and Ph.D programme of various faculties of the university and expressed their satisfaction at overall performance of the university in running these programmes.

Dr Muhammad Tufail also appreciated the efforts of university and teaching faculty in improving the quality of postgraduate programmes over the year by addressing all major observations of HEC review team that were made during their last visit in 2019.

They also visited the earthquake engineering lab, Centre for Artificial Intelligence and Centre for Advanced Studies in Energy to see the sufficiency of research and support facilities.

While sharing recommendations with Prof Dr Iftikhar Hussain, vice-chancellor UET, Dr Tufail appreciated the efforts of university in promoting research at state-of-the-art laboratories.

He advised the management for holding regular meetings of Research Evaluation Committee of respective programmes to accelerate the research work of postgraduate students. He also informed the meeting to hold regular workshops on updating the students on HEC guidelines on anti-plagiarism policy.

Dean Faculty of Mechanical Engineering Prof Dr M.A Irfan, Dean of Civil Engineering Prof Dr Akhtar Naeem and Dr Sirajul Islam and Dr Khizar Azam Khan were present on the occasion.