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ASIA PACIFIC

WHAT OTHERS
Education in Pakistan ARE READING

February 25, 2020

Education in the Philippines
Robert Hunter, World Education Services March 6, 2018

Education in the United States of

America
June 12, 2018

Education in India
September 13, 2018

Education in Nigeria
March 7, 2017

INTRODUCTION
The Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a culturally and linguistically diverse large South Asian country bordered by
Afghanistan and Iran to the north and west, China to the northeast, India to the east and the Arabian Sea to the
south. The Muslim-majority country was established in its current form a er the partition of former British
India into India and Pakistan in 1947, and the subsequent secession of Bangladesh, formerly known as East
Pakistan, in 1971.

Currently the sixth most populous country in the world with 212 million people, Pakistan is characterized by
one of the highest population growth rates worldwide outside of Africa. Even though the roughly 2 percent rate
is now slowing, the country’s population is estimated to reach 403 million by 2050 (UN median range
projection). There are more young people in Pakistan today than at any point in its history, and it has one of the
world’s largest youth populations with 64 percent of Pakistanis now under the age of 30. Consider that Karachi
is projected to become the third-largest city in the world with close to 32 million people by the middle of the
century.

If Pakistan manages to educate and skill this surging youth population, it could harness a tremendous youth
dividend that could help to fuel the country’s economic growth and modernization. Failure to integrate the
country’s legions of youngsters into the education system and the labor market, on the other hand, could turn
population growth into what the Washington Post called a “disaster in the making”: “Putting catastrophic
pressures on water and sanitation systems, swamping health and education services, and leaving tens of
millions of people jobless”—trends that would almost inevitably lead to the further destabilization of Pakistan’s
already fragile political system.

Given the poor state of Pakistan’s education system and its already rising youth unemployment rate, such fears
are anything but unfounded. According to the Global Youth Development Index published by the
Commonwealth, a measure which uses the domains of civic participation, education, employment and
opportunity, health and well-being, and political participation to gauge the progress of young people, Pakistan
ranked only 154th of 183 countries, trailing sub-Saharan African nations like Sierra Leone or Ethiopia.

Perhaps most strikingly, Pakistan has the highest number of out-of-school children worldwide a er Nigeria:
Approximately 22.7 million Pakistani children age five to 16—44 percent of this age group—did not participate
in education in 2017. As shown in the table below, attrition rates increase substantially as children progress up
the educational ladder.

This situation is exacerbated by striking inequalities based on sex and socioeconomic status. Gender disparities
are rampant with boys outnumbering girls at every stage of education. According to Human Rights Watch, 32
percent of girls of elementary school age are out of school, compared with 21 percent of boys. By grade six, only
41 percent of girls participate in education, compared with 51 percent of boys. And by grade nine, merely 13
percent of young women are still enrolled in school.

The causes of these gender disparities are numerous. They include safety concerns, particularly in rural areas
where students have to walk to school and rape of young girls is sadly not uncommon, as well as child marriage
and a culture that has historically undervalued the education of young women. Poverty also plays a major role.
Families, particularly those in rural areas, o en cannot a ord the costs related to education. Here again the
results are devastating, particularly for girls, who are frequently kept at home to cook and do housework so
that both parents can work to keep the family afloat.

It’s crucial to understand that huge socioeconomic disparities exist in Pakistan not only between rural and
urban regions, but also between the country’s diverse provinces. These disparities have a big impact on
educational outcomes, including vast gaps in access to education and overall educational attainment. While
literacy rates in cities like Lahore, Islamabad, and Karachi are close to 75 percent, for instance, these rates can
be as low as 9 percent in the “tribal regions” of Baluchistan, Pakistan’s largest and poorest province. Whereas 65
percent of fi h graders in Punjab province were able to read English sentences in 2018, only 34 percent of fi h
graders in Baluchistan were able to do the same. The percentage of out-of-school children in the vast province
with a small population spread over a large area—a fact that means that there isn’t a school within walking
distance for many students—stands at an alarming 70 percent. Conversely, in the urban and more a luent
Islamabad Capital Territory, merely 12 percent of children are not in school.

Problems in Pakistani education are manifold. They range from dysfunctional and dilapidated school facilities
that lack sanitation or electricity, to underqualified teaching sta , widespread corruption, and tens of
thousands of “ghost teachers” that sap public payrolls by not showing up for work. While most of these
problems are worse at the elementary level, where most of Pakistan’s students are enrolled, they have ripple
e ects for the entire education system and depress enrollment rates at all levels. The gross enrollment rate
(GER) in secondary education is as low as 43 percent before dropping down to 9 percent at the tertiary level—
an extremely low percentage by global standards. To put these rates into regional perspective, the secondary
GER in both India and Bangladesh is 73 percent, and as high as 98 percent in Sri Lanka (UNESCO statistics).

Crucially, Pakistan devotes comparatively few resources to education and trails regional countries like India or
Nepal in education spending. In 2017, Pakistan spent only 2.9 percent of its GDP on education—far below the
government’s o icial target of 4 percent. Factors like declining economic growth rates, high levels of public
debt, inflation, and budget shortfalls make it unlikely that this situation will improve in the near term and have,
in fact, resulted in heavy-handed austerity in the education sector and elsewhere. It remains to be seen if the
economic situation will improve in the future and whether Pakistan can defuse its “population bomb” with
inclusive economic development.

INTERNATIONAL STUDENT MOBILITY  

Pakistan is a significant exporter of international students globally. According to UNESCO statistics, the number
of outbound Pakistani degree-seeking students grew by 70 percent over the last decade, from 31,156 in 2007 to
53,023 in 2017. While that number is dwarfed by the more than 330,000 degree-seeking students from
neighboring India, consider that Pakistan’s outbound mobility ratio—the percentage of international students
among all students—is almost three time as high (2.7 percent in 2017) as that of India (1 percent). This means
that it’s far more common for Pakistani students to study abroad and broaden their academic horizons in
another country than it is for Indian students.

Further increases in student outflows from Pakistan are expected in the years ahead. The British Council, for
instance, expects Pakistan to be among the top 10 growth countries worldwide until 2027, despite an overall
cooling of international student mobility on a global scale. For one, the precarious economic conditions and
employment prospects in Pakistan are a major push factor for both international students and the hundreds of
thousands of labor migrants leaving Pakistan each year. Studying abroad can open immigration pathways in
countries like Australia or Canada, while a foreign degree gives those that return a competitive edge on the
Pakistani labor market.

Another important driver is the lack of university seats and high-quality study programs in Pakistan, particularly
at the graduate level. While Pakistan has created a tremendous amount of new doctoral programs over the past
decade, growing numbers of Pakistani scholars are heading abroad to access higher quality education,
primarily in fields like engineering and the sciences. To modernize research in Pakistan and raise the
qualifications profile of university faculty, the government supports this development with scholarship
programs of considerable scale, considering Pakistan’s fiscal constraints. While most Pakistani students are said
to be self-funded, overseas scholarship programs have helped thousands of graduate students to pursue
studies in the United States, the United Kingdom, Cuba, Germany, France, and various other countries in recent
years. Scholarship recipients are o en required to return home a er graduation.

The traditional English-speaking international study destinations, Australia and the U.S., are currently the top
choices among Pakistani degree-seeking students, as per UNESCO statistics. Data published by the Australian
government show that the number of Pakistani students grew almost threefold over the past decade, from
3,512 in 2008 to 10,000 in 2019, making Pakistan one of the top 10 sending countries of tertiary students in
Australia.

In the U.S., likewise, Pakistani enrollments have generally been on an upward trajectory over the past few
years. According to the Open Doors data of the Institute of International Education, Pakistan sent 7,957 students
to the U.S. in 2018/19, an increase of 5.6 percent over the previous year, making it the 22nd most important
sending country. Around 44 percent of these students are enrolled in undergraduate programs, 35 percent in
graduate programs, and 4 percent in non-degree programs, while 17 percent pursue Optional Practical
Training.

Other popular destination countries include the U.K. and the Muslim-majority countries Malaysia and Saudi
Arabia, the latter also being a magnet for labor migrants from Pakistan. It should be noted, however, that China
has emerged as a significant destination as well. China may, in fact, now host the largest number of Pakistani
international students worldwide. While UNESCO does not report data for China, and Chinese government
figures are di icult to compare,[1] Pakistan is currently the third-largest sending country to China with 28,000
students, per Chinese statistics. As in neighboring India, many Pakistani students flock to China to pursue
medical education—an underdeveloped and severely overburdened education sector in both India and
Pakistan. Increased political and economic cooperation between Pakistan and China and Chinese scholarship
funding likely play a significant role as well. Increasing numbers of Pakistani students are interested in learning
Chinese.

In general, Pakistani students have increasingly diversified their international study destinations in recent
years. In Canada, for instance, the number of Pakistani students has doubled over the past decade, if on a
relatively small scale (4,050 students in 2019). Another notable destination country is Germany, where Pakistan
is now among the top 20 sending countries a er enrollments jumped by 28 percent within just one year, from
3,836 in 2017 to 4,928 in 2018—a trend likely driven, among other factors, by the availability of tuition-free,
high-quality graduate programs in engineering.

The increased demand among Pakistani youths for an international education is also reflected in surging
enrollments in transnational TNE program o erings by academic institutions from various countries in Pakistan
itself. Examples include the Karachi branch campus of the Irish Gri ith College, and TNE programs in
accounting o ered by the British Oxford Brookes University in collaboration with the Association of Chartered
Accountants (ACCA). In 2018, there were 40,210 students studying wholly in Pakistan for U.K. qualifications,
making Pakistan the fourth-largest British TNE market worldwide.

Inbound Student Mobility 

Given Pakistan’s political instability, weak economy, and the shortcomings of its higher education system,
Pakistan is not a significant destination country for international students. That said, there are sizable numbers
of international students from Muslim-majority developing countries like Somalia, Sudan, Yemen, and, most
notably, neighboring Afghanistan, who pursue studies in Pakistan, where they can access education of higher
quality than they can at home.

Pakistan has taken in vast numbers of refugees from war-torn Afghanistan over the past decades and is still
hosting some 2.4 million Afghan refugees. While the integration of these refugees into Pakistan’s already
overburdened and dysfunctional school system is a huge challenge, Pakistani authorities have undertaken at
least some e orts to provide Afghans with access to higher education. In 1999, the Afghan University in
Peshawar, known today as Shaikh Zayed University, was set up specifically to educate Afghan students. Most
recently, Pakistan’s Higher Education Commission in 2019 announced that it will provide 3,000 scholarships for
students from Afghanistan to pursue studies at Pakistani HEIs in fields like medicine, engineering, agriculture,
computer science, and business management.

There are also sizable numbers of international students from various countries coming to Pakistan to study at
Islamic universities or madrasahs. That said, most international madrasah students come from neighboring
Afghanistan as well.

IN BRIEF: THE EDUCATION SYSTEM OF PAKISTAN

Pakistan’s education system has evolved substantially from both its Islamic and British historical roots. It has
improved greatly in the 20th and 21st centuries, but still tends to rely too heavily on rote memorization and
outdated teaching and examination methods. While great strides have been made in improving literacy and
participation rates, the education system remains largely elitist with access to the best educational
opportunities available only to the more a luent or well-connected.

In recent years, Pakistan has adopted increasingly modern methods of teaching and examination and has,
following global trends, moved to a 12+4+2 structure. On the other hand, Islamic traditions remain very much
alive in a society that is up to 96 percent Muslim, the majority of them Sunnis. Islamiyat (Islamic studies) is a
core subject up through lower-secondary school and is seen as critical to the inculcation of Islamic values in
both personal development and the formation of a national identity. Civics has recently been introduced in
school curricula in place of Islamiyat for religious minority populations.

Administration of the Education System

Pakistan is a federation composed of four provinces, the capital territory of Islamabad and the two
autonomous regions of Azad Jammu and Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan. The four provinces are Baluchistan,
Punjab, Sindh, and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, which was until 2010 known as the North-West Frontier Province.
Punjab, the most populous province, is home to more than 50 percent of Pakistan’s population. Sindh is the
second most populous province; it contains the crowded metropolis Karachi, one of the world’s largest cities
proper with some 15 million people. On the other hand of the spectrum, Baluchistan is a vast, sparsely
populated, and mountainous province of approximately 12 million people.

While Pakistan had a comparatively centralized system of government throughout much of its history, there has
been a trend toward decentralization since the early 2000s, notably in education. While matters like the
development of school curricula used to be a shared responsibility of the federal and provincial governments,
many of these responsibilities have now been delegated to the provinces. Within the provinces themselves, the
administration of education largely shi ed from provincial governments to local district governments.

While most aspects of early childhood, elementary, and secondary education are now administered at the
provincial level, the Ministry of Federal Education and Professional Training (MFEP) in Islamabad continues to
set overarching education policies and quality standards. It also coordinates education policies between
jurisdictions. While there can be considerable di erences in school curricula between provinces, overall
curriculum guidelines are determined by the MFEP. As discussed below, the current administration of Prime
Minister Imran Khan also seeks to achieve greater standardization by introducing a common national school
curriculum.

The federal government has primary oversight of both higher education and technical and vocational
education (TVET). The main federal oversight body in higher education is the Higher Education Commission
(HEC), a constitutionally established autonomous institution responsible for the regulation, accreditation, and
funding of higher education in the country.

Of note, Pakistan also has an extensive system of madrasahs, or religious seminaries, which has grown
explosively over the past decades, particularly in rural areas. These schools operate either wholly
autonomously or are a iliated with private madrasah education boards. The federal government in 2001
created a national Pakistan Madrasah Education Board to compete with the existing private boards and create
model Islamic seminaries throughout the country. But it appears to have been mostly unsuccessful in bringing
about greater standardization at these institutions. However, there are now renewed plans to bring madrasahs,
several of which are funded by Saudi Arabia (Sunni schools) and Iran (Shia schools), under government control.
These plans are partially driven by international pressure and concerns about political radicalization (see the
section on madrasah education below).

Intermediate and Secondary Education Boards

Each of Pakistan’s provinces and the territories under control of the federal government have their own Boards of
Intermediate and Secondary Education (BISE) that conduct graduation examinations at the lower-secondary and
upper-secondary levels. In total, there are 28 public exam boards across Pakistan’s provinces and jurisdictions. In
addition, there are two private boards that o er intermediate and secondary examinations throughout the
country—the Aga Khan University Examination Board and the recently established Ziauddin University
Examination Board.

A iliated with each of these boards are schools that teach the board-prescribed curricula and prepare students for
the intermediate and secondary exams. To become a iliated with a BISE, schools need to meet certain quality
criteria set by the individual boards. Under certain conditions, independent “private candidates” may also be
allowed to sit for the exams without attending a iliated schools.

For the most part, the examination certificates issued by the di erent boards are recognized by higher education
institutions, government institutions, and employers nationwide. Examinations, including those of the private
boards, are based on national curriculum guidelines. A steering body attached to the MFEP—the Inter Board
Committee of Chairmen—coordinates curricula and examination-related matters between the di erent boards.

There are also a number of international, predominantly British, examination boards in Pakistan, such as
Cambridge Assessment International Education. Note, however, that the expensive private prep schools that teach
British curricula like the Cambridge International General Certificate of Secondary Education (IGCSE) cater mostly
to wealthy elites and are out of reach for most ordinary Pakistani households.

Academic Calendar and Language of Instruction

Higher education institutions (HEIs) generally follow a semester system—two semesters of 16 to 18 weeks that
run roughly from January through May and then August through December. While some variations in structure
exist, the HEC has recently put forth overall guidelines for the implementation of a uniform semester system for
HEIs.

The academic calendar in elementary and secondary schools runs roughly from February through June and
September through January with a break that coincides with monsoon season.

While there are more than 70 languages spoken in Pakistan, including the provincial languages Punjabi, Pashto,
Sindhi and Balochi, the country’s o icial languages are Urdu and English. English has been the main language
of instruction at the elementary and secondary levels since colonial times. It remains the predominant
language of instruction in private schools but has been increasingly replaced with Urdu in public schools.
Punjab province, for example, recently announced that it will begin to use Urdu as the exclusive medium of
instruction in schools beginning in 2020. Depending on the location and predominantly in rural areas, regional
languages are used as well, particularly in elementary education. The language of instruction in higher
education is mostly English, but some programs and institutions teach in Urdu.

ELEMENTARY AND MIDDLE SCHOOL EDUCATION 

Education in Pakistan is free and compulsory for all children between the ages of five and 16, or up through
grade 10, or what’s referred to as “matriculation” in Pakistan. It is a fundamental right accorded by Article 25 A
of the constitution. However, as noted, participation in compulsory education is far from universal, particularly
in socioeconomically disadvantaged regions. According to UNESCO, the overall elementary NER in Pakistan
stood at only 68 percent in 2018. While enrollment ratios in some major cities are close to universal, Pakistan
has  22.7 million out-of-school children (OOSC), as mentioned earlier. Five million of these are at the
elementary level, and the numbers only increase at the middle and secondary school levels.

Most Pakistani children that participate in education enter school at the age of five. Early childhood education
(ECE) for children between the ages of three and four has historically been given little attention even in more
a luent urban areas, where patchy public provision may be supplemented with private kindergartens. The
Pakistani government estimates that only about a third of children between the ages of three and four
participate in formal early childhood education. Both the federal and provincial governments are seeking to
increase ECE participation rates, but progress is slow. Enrollment ratios have remained largely stagnant in
recent years.

Elementary education is five years in length (grades 1 to 5), followed by three years of middle school (grades 6
to 8), and four years of secondary education, divided into two years of lower-secondary and two years of upper-
secondary education (5+3+2+2).

Private education features prominently in Pakistani elementary and middle school education, as it helps to
bridge capacity gaps in the underfunded public sector. Some 35 percent of all pupils in elementary schools are
enrolled in private schools, according to o icial statistics. Many elementary schools in Pakistan su er severely
from a lack of quality including in terms of infrastructure. Recent government figures bring this into focus—
merely 54 percent of elementary schools have electricity, 67 percent have drinking water, and 68 percent have
latrines. A lack of trained teachers and teacher absenteeism are the other most o en cited problems.

The elementary curriculum typically includes Urdu, English, regional languages, mathematics, science, social
studies, and Islamiyat. The middle school curriculum features the same subjects as the elementary curriculum,
but additional languages like Arabic or Persian may be introduced. It should be noted, however, that
considerable variations in curricula may exist between jurisdictions, especially since the administration of the
school system devolved from the federal government to the provinces in 2010. This move, while placing
decision-making and funding into the hands of those with a greater understanding of local needs, has also
created a fragmented system that lacks coordination and has produced uneven educational outcomes in
di erent provinces.

The provinces of Punjab and Sindh have in recent years introduced standardized province-wide examinations
at the end of grades 5 and 8. Other provinces are experimenting with comparable examinations, but practices
vary across Pakistan. Depending on the jurisdiction, pupils who complete grade five may be allowed to
progress into middle school without sitting for provincial exams. The overall transition rate from elementary to
middle school stood at 84 percent nationwide in 2017.

Efforts to Create a National Curriculum

The government of Prime Minster Imran Khan seeks to reduce the fragmentation and inequalities of Pakistan’s
school system and create a modernized “uniform education system.” A National Curriculum Committee (NCC) has
been tasked with coordinating standards between provinces and developing a Single National Curriculum (SNC)
for school education—a project scheduled to be completed by October 2020 for grades 1 to 8, by December 2021
for grades 9 and 10, and by December 2022 for grades 11 and 12. Critics, however, consider a uniform school
system unrealistic, given the vast economic, linguistic, and religious disparities between Pakistan’s regions.
Prominent Pakistani academic Pervez Hoodbhoy, for instance, noted that it isn’t feasible to teach students in
remote rural regions like the federally administered tribal areas the same curriculum taught in rich urban
neighborhoods in Karachi.

SECONDARY EDUCATION
Pakistan has a secondary education system centered on high-stakes examinations and rote learning. In British
India, the structure and curricula of secondary education were mandated by British colonial rule and
culminated in examinations administered by British education boards. As mentioned earlier, a er
independence, Pakistan then developed its own Boards of Intermediate and Secondary Education (BISE) which
were tasked with developing and conducting final examinations at the ends of grades 9 to 12.

Admission to secondary education requires completion of middle school (grade 8) as well as a passing score on
provincial grade 8 examinations, depending on the jurisdiction. About 68 percent of students at the lower-
secondary level and 88 percent at the upper-secondary level attended public schools in 2017. Even so, private
education at the secondary level is growing, with enrollment in private institutions significantly more common
in more a luent urban areas, where enrollments in private schools can account for as much as 60 percent of all
enrollments.

Secondary education consists of two years of lower-secondary education (grades 9 and 10) followed by two
years of upper-secondary education, typically called intermediate education (grades 11 and 12). There are
three di erent specialization streams in lower-secondary education: science, humanities, and technical.
Students typically elect three specialization subjects from one of these streams (for example, economics,
geography, and business studies in the humanities stream). In addition, the curriculum includes a range of
mandatory core subjects, generally Urdu, English, mathematics, Pakistan studies, and Islamic studies (ethics
for non-Muslim students).

The Secondary School Certificate (SSC), also referred to as “matriculation certificate,” is examined in two parts
at the end of grades 9 and 10 and is awarded upon passing the final SSC exam at the end of grade 10. The exam
is graded on the 0-100 scale shown below. The minimum passing grade in each subject is 33 percent. The final
grade average is typically converted into a letter grade.

Students are most commonly examined in eight subjects. Those who fail more than two subjects must repeat
the school year. In 2019, the overall pass rate in the SSC exams of the Federal Board of Intermediate and
Secondary Education was 84 percent, whereas the pass rate for the private Aga Khan University Examination
Board was 96 percent with 46 percent of test takers achieving an overall grade of A or above.

A passing score on the SSC examinations is required to progress to higher secondary education, which is two
years in duration (grades 11 and 12) and provided by upper-secondary schools or so-called intermediate
colleges, most of them public institutions. Only a small fraction of Pakistanis participate in upper-secondary
education—merely about a quarter of students transition from grade 10 to grade 11. According to UNESCO, the
overall upper-secondary NER in Pakistan was 23 percent in 2017, compared with 38 percent in Nepal and 46
percent in Bangladesh.

There are seven groups or streams available in higher secondary education, including general, humanities,
science, pre-medical, pre-engineering, medical technology, and home economics. Compulsory subjects
include Urdu, English, Islamic education (civics for non-Muslim students), and Pakistan studies along with both
required and elective courses in the specific stream. For example, science group students typically take
chemistry, physics, and mathematics; those in the pre-medical group take biology, physics, and chemistry.

Like the SSC exam, the Higher Secondary School Certificate (HSSC) examination (also referred to as
“intermediate exam”) is administered in two parts at the end of grades 11 and 12. The exams are conducted by
one of the Boards of Intermediate and Secondary Education (BISE). The grading scale and minimum passing
requirements are the same as in the SSC exams.

Madrasah Education
Islamic religious education has and continues to play a prominent role in Pakistan. Originally relatively small in
number (less than 200 at independence) with a mission to educate religious leaders, madrasahs have grown to
a number conservatively estimated at over 30,000. Estimates on the number of students enrolled in these
schools vary greatly but range anywhere from 1.8 million to 3.5 million. Among the factors driving this growth
are the shortcomings of the public school system, particularly the lack of schools in rural areas, and the influx
of Afghan and other refugees, which are o en excluded from Pakistan’s formal education system. Funding and
support from other countries, including Saudi Arabia and Iran, also play a role.

While most madrasahs are unregistered institutions that provide an almost exclusively religious education,
focusing on studying the Koran and Arabic and Persian languages, others are formally a iliated with madrasah
examination boards and incorporate the compulsory subjects of the national school curriculum. The
qualifications awarded by these institutions are examined by the madrasah boards. They include certificates
equivalent to the completion of middle school, secondary school (shahadatul sanvia aama), and higher
secondary school (shahadatul sanvia aama)—credentials that are formally considered on par with SSC and HSC
exams by government authorities. The HEC also recognizes some post-secondary madrasah qualifications
(shahadatul alia (12+2), shahadatul almiya (12+2+2), and some others) as equivalent to bachelor’s and master’s
degrees in Arabic and Islamic studies.

That said, ongoing e orts to “mainstream” Islamic education and bring religious seminaries under greater
government control constitute a challenge and continue to face resistance from many unregistered madrasahs.
In a recent development, the MFEP announced that madrasah students will sit for federal board examinations
and study the national curriculum by 2020 as part of the government’s drive to establish a uniform education
system across Pakistan. Given the complex and historically autonomous nature of religious education in the
country, however, only time will tell if these reforms will take hold.

TECHNICAL AND VOCATIONAL EDUCATION (TVET)

Given that Pakistan is witnessing the largest population growth of youth in its history, with two-thirds of the
population projected to be below the age of 30 for the next three decades, TVET is seen as perhaps the most
critical education sector to address unemployment and develop a workforce capable of driving economic
development.

TVET in Pakistan is provided in various forms, from informal industry-based apprenticeship programs to
secondary-level skills certificate and diploma programs of one or two years, as well as 10+3 programs that
straddle secondary and post-secondary levels. Examples of the latter include the 10+3 Diploma in Nursing and
Diploma of Associate Engineer (DAE)—qualifications that are examined by state boards of technical education
and boards of nursing education. These qualifications provide graduates access not only to specialized
employment but also to tertiary education programs, given that the curricula typically include the compulsory
subjects of the national upper-secondary curriculum. Completion of the DAE, for example, enables students to
enter directly into applicable Bachelor of Technology programs. In addition, there are several post-secondary
diploma and certificate programs in various occupations that are awarded by state boards of technical
education.

TVET programs are taught at technical secondary schools, trade schools, polytechnics, and technical colleges,
most of them public institutions. In 2018 there were more than 3,600 vocational and technical institutions in
the sector enrolling over 400,000 students, most of them concentrated in cities and population-rich provinces
like Punjab and Sindh. This represents a significant increase from 2013 when there were 1,650 institutions with
approximately 315,000 students. Despite this growth, the TVET sector accommodates less than 15 percent of
the nearly three million young people who enter the job market each year. The government is currently trying
to create a system with the capacity to accommodate 20 percent of all school leavers by 2025.

Beyond its capacity shortages, the TVET sector has historically been marred by a lack of national coordination,
quality problems, and outdated curricula that fail to adequately serve the needs of the labor market. To
improve this situation, a process to develop a National Vocational Qualification Framework (NVQF) was
initiated in 2009 in collaboration with and funded by the European Union (EU) and the governments of the
Netherlands, Norway, and, perhaps foremost, Germany, with its internationally recognized TVET system. The
goal is to create a system of competency-based, nationally standardized TVET qualifications that are aligned
with international standards.

The National Vocational Quali cation Framework (NVQF)

The NVQF is currently in development but will eventually span eight levels of qualifications as shown below.
Already established are levels 1 to 4, which define secondary-level national vocational certificates (NVCs)
designed to produce semi-skilled workers in a wide variety of vocations, ranging from automotive technicians
to electrician or plumber. While admission to these programs generally requires the Secondary School
Certificate, there are various pathways to obtain an NVC. They can be earned by completing formal training
programs or non-formal industry-based training, or even through self-learning during employment. All
pathways culminate in a skills assessment based on national competency standards conducted by provincial
qualification assessment boards, trade testing boards, or other certified assessors. Skills standards are
developed at the national level by a Qualification Development Committee that is overseen by the National
Vocational and Technical Training Commission (NAVTTC).

To ensure the comparability of qualifications, they are being standardized in a variety of ways. The level
descriptors delineate qualifications of increasing complexity in terms of skills, as well as levels of responsibility,
from functions that require supervision (level 1) to the ability to perform with full autonomy (level 4). In the
near future, only o icially registered qualifications may use the “national” designation in the qualification title.
Titles of qualifications must also include the type (certificate or diploma) and the occupation (for example,
National Vocational Certificate Level 1 in Hospitality). A registry of qualifications is being developed but does
not appear to be available publicly as of this writing. TVET qualifications at level 5 (mostly 10+3 technical board
diplomas like the DAE) through level 8 (TVET qualifications at the tertiary level) will eventually be defined and
incorporated into the framework as well.

HIGHER EDUCATION
Pakistan has a relatively young higher education sector. At the time of partition, the country had only one
university which had less than 1,000 students enrolled—the University of the Punjab in Lahore. Since then,
increased participation rates in elementary and secondary education, as well as the surging youth population
growth of recent years, have led to a rapid expansion of the system. Tertiary enrollments spiked from only
305,000 in 1990 to 1.9 million in 2018, according to UNESCO. There are currently 209 recognized degree-
awarding institutions (DAIs), up from 59 in 2001 and 139 in 2010. The majority of HEIs and tertiary students are
clustered in the province of Punjab.

Despite this growth, however, overall participation rates in tertiary education remain extremely low in Pakistan:
The country’s tertiary GER stood at only 9 percent in 2018, compared with 29 percent in neighboring India and
21 percent in Bangladesh.

Government funding for public higher education, which accounts for about 70 percent of operating costs, is
vastly insu icient, especially in light of Pakistan’s debt crisis and recent austerity budgets. The government of
Prime Minister Imran Khan, inaugurated in 2018, cut the higher education budget by 37 percent in 2019, while
holding back funds previously allotted to the HEC. As a result of these cuts, some public universities had to
slash their graduate programs and are unable to pay salaries and pensions. In an attempt to curb expenditures,
public universities in the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa have recently been barred from admitting new
students altogether.

Overall education spending, including expenditures related to the school system, is low even by South Asian
standards. Consider that Pakistan in 2017 spent only 2.9 percent of its GDP on education, whereas Nepal
allocated 5.1 percent. India, by comparison, spent 4.6 percent of its GDP on education in 2016. While Pakistan’s
current National Education Policy of 2017 calls for spending to increase to 4 percent, expenditures on
education are estimated to have actually decreased to 2.4 percent of GDP in 2018/19.

As in other critically underfunded systems, this lack of resources negatively a ects the quality of Pakistani HEIs.
Beyond the dearth of funds, many observers note that the e iciency of the Pakistani system is also undermined
by poorly managed top-down governance structures, a lack of qualified faculty and cooperation between
institutions, red tape, comparatively high levels of corruption, and patronage networks in which positions are
filled based on political allegiances rather than objective qualifications.

While Pakistan has made good strides in improving the quality of its institutions over the past decades, it needs
to significantly strengthen its higher education system to nurture the human resources needed for the
development of a modern knowledge-based economy. In 2017 the Global Human Capital Index, which
measures how well countries develop their human capital, ranked Pakistan 125th out of 130 countries,
representing 93 percent of the world’s population.

University Admissions
Undergraduate admissions criteria in Pakistan vary by institution, but the HSSC/Intermediate Examination
Certificate is nearly always required, although applicants may sometimes also be admitted based on technical
board diplomas, depending on the program. A minimum grade average of 50 percent or above (second division
pass) is required by most institutions, but the threshold in more competitive disciplines like engineering and
medicine is usually higher (at least 60 percent). Since upper-secondary education programs are o ered in
di erent streams, an HSSC in a stream related to the intended major is a typical requirement as well.

Additionally, applicants may have to sit for admission tests or interviews, especially at top-tier institutions.
Most typically, this is an internal assessment devised by the institution, but it’s increasingly common for
institutions to rely on external tests, such as the National Aptitude Test conducted by Pakistan’s National
Testing Service. Some private institutions may also accept foreign tests, such as the U.S.-based SAT. Applicants
who’ve earned secondary credentials outside of Pakistan must obtain an equivalency certificate from the Inter
Board Committee of Chairmen to be considered for admission. It should be noted that colleges or teaching
institutions in the public sector are bound by the admission requirements set by the degree-awarding
university to which they are a iliated.

Types of Higher Education Institutions

Like neighboring India, Pakistan has a higher education system made up of relatively few degree-granting
universities but close to 3,000 colleges and other teaching institutions that are a iliated with these universities.
Authorized DAIs are mostly chartered universities but also include research institutes or military academies.
DAIs can be either public or private and are approved (chartered) by the federal or provincial governments
based on the recommendations of the Higher Education Commission (HEC).

A iliated colleges, on the other hand, are regulated at the provincial level. They can also be either public or
private, but only public DAIs are allowed to have a iliated colleges, and most colleges are, in e ect, public
institutions. Relying on a iliated colleges to teach degree programs a ords universities a comparatively easy
and cost-e ective way to scale up capacity, especially in remote areas. The number of a iliated colleges in
Pakistan has consequently mushroomed since the 1990s.

Even so, access to colleges remains heavily skewed toward urban areas. What’s more, since even public colleges
are to some extent dependent on tuition fees, many only o er programs in popular fields of study that don’t
require large investments in facilities. As noted in a recent HEC-sponsored study, “science subjects … are
avoided by colleges because there is need of science laboratories to run those programs. … There is little
interest of a iliated colleges to have research-oriented courses. Again it may increase their cost to hire those
faculty who can conduct quality oriented research science programs that require lab facilities.”

To become a iliated with DAIs, colleges must meet certain minimum requirements set forth by the HEC and the
a iliating university, which determines the syllabi, conducts periodic examinations—including annual
progression exams and graduation exams—and awards the final degree. Colleges may o er a range of more
general programs in arts and sciences, whereas others are mono-specialized in disciplines like business
administration, education, or engineering. While it is the norm for a college to a iliate with just one DAI, some—
particularly those with more diverse general programs of study—may be a iliated with more than one
institution. The HEI with the most a iliated colleges is the University of Punjab with more than 600 colleges.
Overall, there are now about 2,900 a iliated colleges in Pakistan.

In addition to a iliated colleges, there’s a smaller number of constituent colleges, also referred to as campuses,
directly administered by the universities. Whereas most a iliated colleges teach only undergraduate programs,
these colleges o er both undergraduate and graduate programs.

A relatively new phenomenon is the establishment of a system of community colleges. Like other colleges,
community colleges are teaching institutions a iliated with a DAI, but they are designed to o er more applied
programs that lead to employment-geared associate degrees. One example of this trend is a pilot program
launched by the Punjab Higher Education Council to establish a number of community colleges to address the
need for skilled labor in the province.

Universities
Of the 209 DAIs/universities recognized by the HEC, 126—or 60 percent—are public. Private higher education is
relatively new in Pakistan and was, in fact, banned under le ist governments in the 1970s and early 1980s. A er
it was re-introduced, the number of private HEIs grew substantially, helping to absorb the rising demand for
higher education. While there were only two private HEIs in Pakistan at the beginning of the 1990s, there are
now 83 private DAIs, enrolling some 19 percent of all university students.

It should be noted, however, that the future growth potential of private higher education in Pakistan is limited
by what the market is able to bear, particularly with regard to expensive higher quality institutions, many of
which require tuition fees that are out of reach for most of Pakistan’s population. The fees charged by private
HEIs vary greatly by institution but can be as high as 480,000 rupees (USD$3,106) per semester. By comparison,
semester fees at public institutions are relatively nominal, averaging 60,000 to 90,000 rupees (USD$390 to
USD$585). (For context, Pakistan’s gross national income per capita was USD$1,590 in 2018).

Prestigious private institutions like Aga Khan University and the Lahore University of Management Sciences,
Pakistan’s first private universities, are among the country’s top institutions. However, many private providers
are smaller, specialized, market-oriented institutions of lesser quality that mainly o er programs in fields like
business management and information technology. Private institutions o er fewer graduate programs than
public HEIs, and many don’t engage in academic research activities.

Most public universities, by contrast, are large multi-faculty research institutions that o er a full range of
academic programs, including PhD programs, which are almost exclusively o ered by public DAIs. The
University of the Punjab has five campuses, more than 70 departments, and about 46,000 on-campus students.
Pakistan’s largest public university in terms of enrollments, and simultaneously one of the largest universities in
the world, is Allama Iqbal Open University, an open distance education provider with 1.4 million students.

Faculty and Research Output

Among the most pressing shortcomings of Pakistani universities is a shortage of senior teaching sta . While
assistant, associate, and full professors must formally have a PhD, entry-level lecturers in most academic
disciplines except engineering, information technology, computer science, medical sciences, law, and studio
arts and design can teach with just a master’s degree (18 years of total education). Since HEIs rely heavily on
non-tenured lecturers, the percentage of teaching sta with PhDs is consequently low. According to HEC
statistics, only 21 percent of full-time faculty at Pakistani universities held a PhD in 2015. Some universities did
not have any professors who held doctoral qualifications.

The research capacities of Pakistani universities are another issue of concern. While research output has grown
phenomenally in recent years, resulting in Pakistan now producing more academic journal publications in
natural sciences than countries like Malaysia or Indonesia, the overall quality of the research is questioned by
many observers. Much of the rapid growth in Pakistan’s research output is owed to an incentivization system
that ties academic journal publications to faculty promotions and financial rewards. As a result, the system is
said to be rife with corruption, plagiarism, and fabricated research, with many publications allegedly produced
for purely material gains. Indicative of such problems, the HEC in 2017 closed down more than 100 doctoral
programs over quality concerns.

To improve the quality of Pakistani universities, the HEC currently plans to create a three-tiered system of HEIs,
including a top tier of 30 government-supported research universities that will cater to Pakistan’s best and
brightest students. The other two tiers comprise the remainder of DAIs (tier 2) and a iliated colleges (tier 3). By
2025, the number of tier 1 and 2 university-level institutions is projected to increase from 209 today to 300,
serving more than seven million students.

Quality Assurance and Accreditation

Both public and private HEIs are authorized to operate by the federal or provincial governments based on the
approval by the HEC, an autonomous agency set up in 2002. To obtain and maintain recognition (approval) by
the HEC, institutions must have in place viable mission statements, adequate administrative and financial
structures, facilities, academic programs, and faculty, and maintain internal quality assurance (QA) systems.
The assessment of institutions is mostly based on the evaluation of institutional self-assessments and HEC site
inspections.

In addition, the HEC has established dedicated accreditation councils responsible for quality assurance at the
program level in specific disciplines (education, agriculture, computing, business, and technology).
Independent accreditation councils also exist in professions like law, architecture, engineering, medicine,
nursing, pharmacy, and veterinary medicine.

To promote a culture of continual quality improvement, the HEC introduced a ranking system that rates HEIs on
a scale from W (highest) to X, Y, and Z (lowest) based on criteria like QA mechanisms, teaching quality, or
research output. However, while these rankings are designed to be an annual ongoing process, their results
were last made available to the public in 2015. The top six institutions in the 2015 ranking were Quaid-e-Azam
University (public), the University of the Punjab (public), the National University of Science and Technology
(NUST, public), the University of Agriculture, Faisalabad (public), Aga Khan University (private), and the
COMSATS Institute of Information Technology (public).

In recent years, the HEC has taken increased steps to enforce institutional compliance with QA regulations,
amid scathing criticism of academic quality in Pakistan from education professionals and the public alike. In
2017, for instance, four institutions have been banned from admitting students entirely, while another 13 had
their distance learning MPhil and PhD programs suspended. Current lists of recognized universities, campuses,
authorized transnational providers and programs, as well as illegally operating institutions are available here.

International University Rankings 

In comparison with academic institutions in other Asian countries, Pakistani universities are not very well-
represented in standard international university rankings. While there are six Indian institutions included
among the top 500 in the current 2020 Times Higher Education World University Rankings, for instance, Quaid-i-
Azam University is the only Pakistani institution featured in this group (at position 401–500). Six Pakistani
institutions are among the top 1,000, with COMSATS the highest ranked (601–800).

For the most part, Pakistan has a relatively consistent cluster of top institutions, most of them public, in terms
of both domestic and international rankings. The four Pakistani HEIs among the top 1,000 in the current
Shanghai Ranking are COMSATS in the 501–600 band, and Quaid-i-Azam University, the University of Agriculture
Faisalabad, and the University of the Punjab in the 801–990 band. The 2020 QS Rankings feature the Pakistan
Institute of Engineering and Applied Sciences (375), NUST (400), Quaid-i-Azam University (511–520), the Lahore
University of Management Sciences (701–750), as well as COMSATS, the University of Engineering and
Technology, and the University of the Punjab, all in the 801–1000 band.

THE HIGHER EDUCATION DEGREE STRUCTURE

Like other countries on the Indian subcontinent, Pakistan used to have bachelor’s degree programs that were
only two or three years in length—a short duration by international standards. The traditional degree system
was mostly structured into two-year bachelor’s programs (pass degree) followed by a two-year master’s degree
(2+2), or more specialized three-year bachelor’s programs (honors degrees) followed by a one-year master’s
degree (3+1).

However, the structure of higher education qualifications has undergone significant changes in recent years,
transitioning to a four-year bachelor’s degree, followed by a one- to two-year master’s degree in line with global
trends. Pakistan’s current national qualifications framework spans eight levels, from elementary education to
doctoral studies, emulating common academic qualifications frameworks worldwide.

It should be noted, however, that while most DAIs have moved to the new structure, vestiges of the old system
still exist with some institutions still awarding the old 2+2 or 3+1 qualifications. Further complicating matters,
academic institutions have developed a wide range of “bridging programs” to enable graduates from the
traditional, short bachelor’s programs to enroll in graduate programs within the current system. Other changes
include the introduction of a new two-year associate degree and the adoption of a U.S.-style semester and
credit system. These changes not only replace the traditional system of annual examinations and mark sheets,
they also facilitate the global recognition of Pakistani qualifications and international student exchange.
Following are short profiles of the new credit system, the most common grading scale, and the primary
benchmark credentials of the current system.

Grading Scale
The HEC recommends the use of the following U.S.-style grading scale which has been adopted, with some
variations, by a majority of HEIs in Pakistan. Note that academic transcripts may still indicate percentage
marks, as used under the old system (see below), but the actual grade ranges are di erent. According to the
o icial guidelines, a minimum GPA of 2.0 is required to graduate from bachelor’s programs, whereas a GPA of
2.5 or higher is required in the case of graduate programs.

The previous grading scale was a percentage-based 0-100 scale akin to the secondary grading scale. For
articulation between the di erent systems, the HEC recommends converting the old percentage grades to
current letter grades as follows.

Credit System
The credit system stipulated by the HEC and used by most HEIs is a U.S.-style system. One credit hour is
equivalent to 50 minutes of classroom instruction each week throughout a semester of 16 to 18 weeks’
duration. A four-year bachelor’s degree requires the completion of 124 to 136 credit units, whereas a master’s
degree typically requires 30 credits (either 30 credits of coursework or 24 credits of coursework and 6 credits of
thesis, research, or project work).

One credit hour of laboratory or practical work requires three contact hours per week throughout the semester.
Credit hours are sometimes simply listed on academic transcripts without denoting whether the study was
theoretical or practical. When theoretical and practical study are indicated, the corresponding credit hours are
typically shown as two hyphenated digits within parentheses, for example, “4 (3-1).”

BENCHMARK CREDENTIALS  
Associate Degree

Higher Secondary School Certificate (HSSC);

Admission Requirements Intermediate Certificate; A Levels or other
equivalent qualification

Duration / Credits Two years / 60-72 credit hours

Awarded in primarily applied fields of study

Fields of Study / Credentials Awarded
Associate Degree in (field of study)

Bachelor’s degree programs (with

Gives Access To exemptions/transfer credit) in a related field
of study

A relatively new credential; not frequently

awarded today but expected to become
increasingly common in the next few years.
Additional Information
O ered primarily in applied subject areas to
train paraprofessionals to meet local labor
needs, as well as a pathway to further study.

Bachelor’s Degree

Higher Secondary School Certificate (HSSC);

Admission Requirements Intermediate Certificate; A Levels or other
equivalent qualification

Duration / Credits Four years / 124–136 credit hours

Gives Access To Master’s programs

O ered in many fields of study, most notably

computer science, humanities, sciences and
social sciences

Additional Information
Most common nomenclature used for name of
credentials is Bachelor of (field of study)

Bachelor’s Degree (Professional Disciplines)

Higher Secondary School Certificate (HSSC);

Admission Requirements Intermediate Certificate; A Levels or other
equivalent qualification

Four years / 124–136 credit hours

Duration / Credits
Five years / 160–170 credit hours

Master’s degrees, advanced graduate level

programs in professional disciplines
Gives Access To

Professional practice

Four-year programs are o ered in agriculture,

education, engineering, or nursing*

Five-year programs are o ered in

architecture, dentistry, homeopathy, law,
medicine, pharmacy, veterinary science, and
traditional systems of medicine (Unani,
Additional Information
Ayurveda, and homeopathic medicine)*

*  Reflects duration of majority of programs in

that field of study. However, programs can vary
in length. Programs in medical fields typically
include a one-year internship or clinical
rotation.

Master’s Degree

Bachelor’s degree (four years, 124–136

credits) or a combined 16 years of education.
Admission Requirements
Dedicated Graduate Assessment Test (GAT) for
certain programs.

Duration / Credits 1.5 to 2 years / 30 credit hours

Agriculture, biological sciences,

Fields of Study / Credentials Awarded
business studies, computer science,
engineering, physical sciences, social
sciences, veterinary sciences
Master of Science, Master of Arts, Master
of Philosophy, Master of Engineering,
Master of Commerce, Master of
Technology, and so on

Gives Access To PhD programs

Programs may include a thesis or coursework

Additional Information
only.

Doctoral Degree (PhD)

Master’s degree with a minimum GPA of 3.0,

Admission Requirements
GAT depending on the program

Variable. At least 18 credits coursework

Duration / Credits
followed by research and dissertation.

HEC-stipulated graduation requirements

include at least one scientific journal
publication and the evaluation of the
Additional Information
dissertation by two experts from academically
advanced foreign countries (in addition to
local doctoral committee members).

Note: In addition to these benchmark qualifications, universities o er a variety of shorter undergraduate-level

diploma programs as well as postgraduate diplomas, which are mostly one year in duration and require a
bachelor’s degree for admission. See, for example, the related program o erings of the University of the Punjab. 

Professional Education
Academic programs in professional disciplines like medicine, dentistry, pharmacy, and a few other fields are
undergraduate programs of four- or five-years’ duration. Medical and dental programs are o ered by dedicated
medical and dental colleges. They lead to the award of the Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery
degree and Bachelor of Dental Surgery, respectively. All colleges must be recognized by the Pakistan Medical
Commission (PMC) and must be a iliated with a degree-granting university. To practice, graduates must
complete a mandatory one-year clinical internship and register with the PMC.

Certification in medical specialties requires another three to five years of clinical studies, depending on the
specialty. In dentistry this requirement results in the award of the Master of Dental Surgery degree. In medicine,
those completing a specialization are awarded the university degree of Doctor of Medicine and become
members of the College of Physicians and Surgeons.

Indigenous medical systems like Unani, Ayurvedic, and Homeopathic medicine are licensed professions in
Pakistan as well. In these fields, the Bachelor of Eastern Medicine and Surgery is awarded upon completion of a
five-year program and one-year clinical internship recognized by the National Council for Tibb.

Admission into medical schools (Western or indigenous) and dental schools requires passing entrance
examinations and a minimum aggregate score of 60 percent in both the SSC/Matriculation and the
HSSC/Intermediate exams in the pre-medical group. Requirements also include an entry test. A fairly standard
weighting of the selection criteria is 10 percent for the SSC, 40 percent for the HSC, and 50 percent for the
entrance test.

Entry to the practice of law requires the completion of a five-year Bachelor of Laws (LLB) program, followed by
a period of practical training and passing an examination conducted by one of Pakistan’s provincial Bar
Councils. Study is conducted at law schools a iliated to a degree-granting university. Holders of a Master of
Law (LLM) degree can practice and are exempt from the period of training and examination. LLM degree
programs must be completed directly at degree-granting institutions and not at a iliated colleges.

Teacher Education
Pakistan has significantly tightened the academic requirements for school teachers in recent years. Until
recently, elementary and middle school teachers (grades 1 to 8) were able to teach a er completing short
training programs that led to the Primary Teaching Certificate (SSC+1) and the Certificate in Teaching (HSSC+1).
Today, Pakistan’s national regulations formally stipulate a four-year bachelor’s degree in education or its
equivalent as the minimum requirement to teach at Pakistani schools, from elementary through higher
secondary levels. However, since teachers are hired at the provincial and regional levels, current practices vary
significantly, predicated primarily on teacher shortages and a lack of qualified candidates.

The new associate degrees, awarded at a iliated colleges of education and community colleges, are being
o ered in education. In some provinces these new degrees have replaced the former Primary Teaching
Certificate and Certificate in Teaching and now function as an interim credential. Those who have earned it are
allowed to teach at the elementary school level while the system transitions to the new bachelor’s degree
requirement. Postgraduate Bachelor of Education (BEd) credentials earned a er one year of study following a
two- or three-year bachelor’s degree in another discipline continue to be accepted for teaching positions at the
lower secondary level (grades 9–10) as well.

WES DOCUMENTATION REQUIREMENTS

Secondary Education

Final certificate (for example, Higher Secondary School Certificate or Intermediate Certificate)—sent by
the applicable Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education
Mark sheet/result card—sent by the applicable Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education

Technical and Vocational Education

Diploma or Certificate (for example, Diploma of Associate Engineer or other diploma or certificate
awarded by an applicable Board)
Mark Sheet/Result Card sent by the applicable Board

Higher Education

Photocopy of degree certificate—submitted by the applicant

Transcript/Mark Sheet/Result Card—sent by the institution attended
For completed doctoral programs, a written statement confirming the conferral of the degree—sent by
the awarding institution

SAMPLE DOCUMENTS
Click here for a PDF file of the academic documents referred to below

Higher Secondary School Certificate (HSSC)

Diploma of Associate Engineer (DAE)
Bachelor’s Degree (university, four years)
Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery
Master of Arts
Master of Philosophy
Doctor of Philosophy

  

[1] When comparing international student numbers, it is important to note that numbers provided by di erent
agencies and governments vary because of di erences in data capture methodology, definitions of
“international student,” and types of mobility captured (credit, degree, etc.). The data of the UNESCO Institute
Statistics o en provides the most reliable point of reference for comparison since it is compiled according to
one standard method. It should be pointed out, however, that it only includes students enrolled in tertiary
degree programs. It does not include students on shorter study abroad exchanges, or those enrolled at the
secondary level or in short-term language training programs, for instance.

The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the o icial
policy or position of World Education Services (WES).

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