Business Education in Pakistan Part III – Accreditation & Discrimination – Blog Post #408 by Asrar Qureshi

Business Education in Pakistan Part III – Accreditation & Discrimination – Blog Post #408 by Asrar Qureshi

Dear Colleagues!  This is Pharma Veterans Blog Post #408. Pharma Veterans welcomes sharing of knowledge and wisdom by Veterans for the benefit of Community at large. Pharma Veterans Blog is published by Asrar Qureshi on WordPress, the top blog site. Please email to asrar@asrarqureshi.com for publishing your contributions here.

The occurrence is increasing. The prevalence is becoming almost ubiquitous. More and more job ads requiring business graduates put "Master in Business Administration, from LUMS/IBA". Looks familiar?

There must be few hundred business schools of various grades; some of them belonging to most prestigious universities such as Punjab University, Quaid-i-Azam University and the like. Why is there so much distrust about all of them except the chosen few? If the market does not wish to accept graduates from any school other than LUMS/IBA, why and for whom are these schools operating? Why are the students spending huge amounts on an education which does not have enough market worth? What moral justification do these institutions have in attracting (and fleecing)the students?

During my research on this subject, I came across NBEAC – National Business Education & Accreditation Council. It is an official body established by HEC – Higher Education Commission in 2007. Professor Danishmand, former Director, IBA Karachi was appointed as the first Chairman of the council.

NBEAC Vision Statement:

• Enhancing Quality of Business Education

NBEAC Mission Statement:

• Ensure member institutions surpass the minimum threshold requirements of accreditation of a business or business related degree program.

• Provide training and support for enhancing the quality of accredited degree programs and employment prospects of graduates;

• Build capacity for the faculty, staff and administrative support of member institutions.

• To ensure that all management development institutions are embarked on a journey to continuously enhance quality of their people, processes, research and programs.

• To serve as a platform for mutual sharing of experiences that contribute towards enhancing the quality of management education and industry practices in the country.

Objectives:

• To assure quality in business administration/public administration/management sciences/ commerce degree programs in educational institutions.

• Systematize and execute a comprehensive process of accreditation of degree programs, and assist and advise institutions in planning their academic programs.

• To ensure maintenance of program quality and continuous improvement of all business programs of public/private sector Universities/DAI’s.

• To ensure integrity in the representation of information about business programs.

• To encourage research in disciplines mentioned under the scope of the NBEAC.

• To publish the list of categorization of the degree programs.

The Degree Programs of the following disciplines fall in the scope of NBEAC.

• Business Administration

• Public Administration

• Management Sciences

• Commerce

Accreditation of Business Schools

Following statistics are interesting and telling. Please understand that Accreditation is different from acceptance of degree by HEC. A chartered university is eligible for issuing degrees of accredited courses. NBEAC Accreditation is a certificate of quality

• Total Business School Campuses in Pakistan – 207

• Accredited Business Schools – 22

• Applied for Accreditation - 150

W Category Business Schools – Full Accreditation

1. Institute of Business Administration – IBA, Karachi

2. Institute of Business Management – IoBM, Karachi

3. Lahore School of Economics – LSE, Lahore

4. Lahore University of Management Sciences – LUMS, Lahore

5. National University of Sciences & Technology, NUST, Islamabad

6. Sukkur Institute of Business Administration – IBA, Sukkur

7. University of Management and Technology – UMT, Lahore

X Category Business Schools – Provisional Accreditation

1. Air University, Islamabad

2. Bahria University, Karachi Campus

3. Bahria University, Islamabad

4. Baluchistan University of Information Technology & Management Sciences, Quetta

5. COMSATS University Islamabad

6. COMSATS University Islamabad, Lahore Campus

7. Forman Christian College, Lahore

8. Foundation University, Islamabad

9. Institute of Management Sciences, Peshawar

10. International Islamic University, Islamabad

11. IQRA University, Karachi

12. National University of Computer & Emerging Sciences (nu-FAST), Islamabad

13. National University of Computer & Emerging Sciences (nu-FAST), Lahore

14. National University of Modern Languages, NUML, Islamabad

15. University of Lahore, Lahore

22 institutions out of 227 is about 10% only. Mind it, only 7, or 3% institutions are fully accredited; 7% have provisional accreditation. Even if we count them all, it is still a tiny percentage.

Students getting enrolled in 90% institutions are doing it at their own risk. Acceptance of degree in corporate sector is not an issue generally, but bigger corporates are now asking for MBA from selected schools only.

We shall talk about this and close the discussion in the last (next) part of this series.

To be continued……

1. https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1209824.pdf

2. https://wasioabbasi.wordpress.com/2011/10/15/business-education-in-pakistan/

3. https://www.nbeac.org.pk/index.php 

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