Pakistan – a rising Education Market

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Pakistan:

A rising education market

Pakistan:

A rising

Education Market

ByDr. Osamah Qureshi

Hareem Arif Student Counseling Services,

Pakistan

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Area of 796,095 km2 (307,374 sq mi)(≈combined land areas of France and the United Kingdom)

36th largest nation by total area

45th largest in terms of nominal GDP

6th most populous country – (Population exceeding 180 million)

Geogra

phic

al Im

port

ance

Located at crossroads of strategically important regions of:South Asia,Central Asia andWestern Asia

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54 percent of the UK’s (non-EU)

international students are from Pakistan

USA - Largest number of Fulbright

Scholarship Program (over 200 scholarships offered to Pakistani students)

Official Language: Urdu + English

2 knowledge park projects in line(Punjab + KPK)

Major Cities

In terms of literacy rate and

educational development

Islamabad Peshawar Quetta

Education System

in Pakistan

Educational Institutions

• 136 Universities• 72 Public

• 62 Private

• 3193 technical and Vocational Institutions

• Free schools for religious teachings (Madrassas)

Levels of Education

• Pre-primary

• Primary

• Middle

• Matriculation (leading to the Secondary School Certificate)

• Intermediate (leading to a Higher Secondary (School)

Certificate)

• University programmes (leading to graduation)

• Postgraduate degrees.

Literacy Rate

• For 10 years + of age ≈ 58.5%.

• Male literacy ≈ 70.2%

• Female literacy rate ≈ 46.3%.

• Literacy rates vary by region and particularly by sex; for instance,

female literacy in tribal areas is 3%.

• Educational reforms aim to attain

100% enrolment levels in primary school age and

a literacy rate of 86% among people aged over 10.

Watch body for higher education

institutions

Attestation of higher educational documents / Verifications

Scholarships to study abroad

Grants to researchers and students

Accreditation and Rankings of Pakistani Universities

Recognizing Foreign Degree programs offered in Pakistan

Higher Education Commission

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HEC accredited 203 degree awarding institutions

(Universities and Colleges)

Some oldest public funded institutions are University of Punjab,

University of Karachi, and Edwards College Peshawar etc.

All Universities must be accredited by HEC and

list and rankings are at hec.gov.pk

Some most famous and prestigious

Universities in terms of rankings & quality of

education they offer are

Universities and Colleges

University of

Karachi

Agha Khan

University

SZABIST

University of the

Punjab

Quad e Azam

University

NUST

LUMS

UET

New 4 year BA Honour degree in Pakistan

New 4 years BA/BSc. Honours degree in par with the international standards

Old 2 years BA degree system also running in parallel at most public colleges

To clarify the situation HEC issued press statement some time back

New 4 year BA Honour degree in Pakistan

Press Release - 2010

4-year Bachelor Degree Equivalent to Old Master Degree in Respective Discipline:

The Higher Education Commission (HEC) clarifies that the 4-year Bachelor degree is

equivalent to old Master degree in their respective disciplines, and all such Bachelor

degree holders are eligible to compete and apply for employment or higher

studies wherever the requirement is that of old Master degree. It may be added here that

the 4-year / 8-semester Bachelor programme introduced in 2003 with entry level of 12

years of schooling is equated with 16 years of education. Examples of such degrees are

BBA (Hons), BS (CS), BS(IT), BCS (Hons), BCom (Hons) etc.

It may be further clarified

here that the old system, still being practiced in the university affiliated colleges,

provides for 2-year Bachelor followed by 2-year Master degree

(two-year BA / BSc + two-year MA/MSc) making it a total of 16 years of education.

How to link up with a Pakistani University /

Institution?

Nearly all good Universities are having now Career Counsellor who is responsible for student’s

guidance for study abroad. Contact them

Some Universities have In house Educational Agencies for student recruitment. If that’s the case

one can sign agency agreement with them

All Universities now host career fairs for their graduates. Attend them if possible/ ask your agent to

represent you. Most have free stalls or at very nominal cost like PKR 10,000 ( USD100 ! )

Many Institutions have their magazines/ web sites. Advertise there.

If possible make a loose nonbinding MoU / agreement. This will provide base to start recruitment

activities at campus

Send them posters / notices to be pasted at campus notice boards.

Some Universities are happy to offer office space for career counselling activities.

Scholarships, Discounts, Flexible entry criteria, Credit Transfer facilities, Funding for University

staff visit to overseas – all these are quite attractive to Pakistani Universities administration.

Recruitment of quality students from Pakistan

Engaging Quality agents

Use a small number of proficient agents instead of a large number of incompetent ones

Quality agents can be engaged by seeking credible references

Agents working for the last 5 years or more are likely to be active as they have survived the

slow business in the last few years

Agents working with education markets of Australia Canada USA are more diversified as

compare to agents working only with UK

Please seek Press Ad record of agents as they should not be misleading

Agents running English Language training classes are more likely to recruit quality students

Agents based in metropolitan cities Lahore, Karachi and Islamabad are comparatively well

versed in student recruitment and visas as compare to small city agents

Seek Education Agent qualification copy as many working agents don’t even have basic

qualification degree.

Visit the agent web site, see their travel record, ask for local reference from Pakistan based

offices of British Council, AUSTRADE, USEFP etc. Check if they have attended Education

Fairs, do they have videos of marketing activities, do they have active Facebook page

Agents dealing ONLY in student counseling are more focused than agents dealing in visit,

Immigration and employment based recruitment visas

Visit the Education UK Trained Agents listings.

Attracting quality students

• Discounts are common but anything reducing the fee is attractive

• Scholarships linked with good GPA and IELTS is a good act to recruit quality students

• Special package to a particular institution is also a good idea – You can work with some

top institutions if such a package can be offered. Many Universities are linked up with

Pakistani Universities offering them special scholarship / discounted fee

• Scholarships on extracurricular activities also attract active students

• Advertisements on good Universities web sites, magazines and Facebook always generate

enquiries of good quality

• Linking up with good Universities also allow flow of quality applications

Screening students in terms of paper work;

Verifications

• Always ask for full application with references, statement of purpose and CV

• Student must complete application forms himself/herself

• Ask for experience letters for any gaps in education history

• Always ask for student contact details Email /Mobile

• Before issuing final offer letter its good if you can talk with student over phone/ SKYPE

assessing his/her suitability, financial affordability and ensuring that he/ she knows terms

and conditions

• If possible ask for Bank statements / Financial documents from students

• Do not accept blurred and no readable documents

• Its good if you can verify some of the documents online

Screening students in terms of paper work;

Verifications

• IELTS / TOEFL/ Cambridge English/ PTE results

• Student Experience letters/ Business letters by searching them on Google

• Some financial docs. Like National Tax Number NTN is verifiable at Pakistan FBR –

Federal Board of Revenue web site www.fbr.gov.pk

• Many Universities offer results as late as 5 or more years verifiable online. Visit University

web site

• Some good agents add “Agent Verification Sheet” in applications / Visa applications.

In this they do online/ telephonic verifications. They usually verify most crucial docs.

Like academics, bank statements & student experience letter if any. Ask your agent

to do that for all / some applications. Provide them a sample

• Some highest ranking Universities and visa offices use third party verification

agencies. One example is Risk Discovered riskdiscovered.com which is used by

British High Commission as well.

Medium of Instruction

• The Ministry of Education is extending “English Medium Education” for all schools across

Pak.

• Medium of Instruction in Higher Education is already in English

• English established as official language along with Urdu

• Level of English in Urban areas better than Rural

Language Assessment Criterion

• Skype Interviews

• Language Assessment Exams

IELTS (Through British Council + AEO)

TOEFL (Through ETS)

Cambridge English Language Assessment (Through ICD)

MELAB (Through ICD)

Occupational English Test (Through ICD)

• English Proficiency Certificate (issued by the candidates’ educational institute)

Practical ProblemsIn Language Assessments

1. Financial Burden

Exam Registration Fee (PKR) Registration Fee (USD)

BEC 16,000 152

TOEFL 17,000 160

IELTS 19,000 180

MELAB 21,000 200

OET 60,000 580

These fees are usually a considered as a financial strain on studentsThis makes students reluctant to try …

Preparation and Time Constraints

• Cost of preparation adds to the already present financial Burden

• Students with a lower level of English (especially from rural/less developed areas) require a lot of time to improve and prepare for the exams

• With the deadlines fast approaching after the end of the candidate’s last degree completion, the preparation time is not sufficient enough

Lack of Good Language

Teachers and Institutions

• ~ 95% of teachers in schools only have a

basic knowledge of English Language*

• Trend of ELT degrees has just started

• Teacher Trainings in the process of

serious implementation (only in more

developed urban areas)

• Commercialized Institutes do not focus on

quality

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Solutions• Assessing only the degree required modules

• Designing your own assessment exams

which would be financially more feasible

• Taking Skype interviews

• Admitting students in Foundation Courses

• Setting up Support offices in Pakistan

• Practical Examples include:– NAVITAS

– Study Group

– Cambridge Education

– INTO

Finances of students, Fee matters and Deposits

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Always ask students/ agents to make all drafts /

transfers payable to your institution

Its preferred that not to allow agent to hold bank drafts/ deposits

If for some reason you are allowing agent to

hold draft payment, ask them to send you draft

colour scanned copy. Beware of changes on

draft / use of Corel Draw etc. to change

contents

Swift transfers are most quick route for fee

transfers. Beside them Wall Street, Credit Card

payments are also useful

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Some payment gateways are now allowing students to pay

through them. Examples are Pay To Study which is widely used

for Irish Universities. If you are partnered with such a service ask

students/ agents to pay through these services

Its now generally marketable that fee of up to USD5000 can be

asked in full in advance. Students are paying full 1 year fee in

case of Ireland, New Zealand in tune of USD 5000-10,000

depending on the course.

If allowing the student to pay a deposit, please

ask them full balance on arrival.

Application Fee are not marketable as most

Pakistani students are not paying to apply

only. Although you can allow your agent to

charge a small fee to service only serious

students.

New initiatives by Govt. of Pakistan for

students and youths

The new Govt. has announced various schemes for young Pakistani graduates and students.

Some of them are listed below:

• Prime Minister Youth Loan Program

• Prime Minister Laptop Scheme 2013

• Prime Minister Student Internship program- www.nip.gov.pk

• Knowledge City – Lahore and Peshawar

• Teacher Training Programs

• Devolution of power and funds to provinces for education promotion

Knowledge City-Lahore & Peshawar

To Create Synergy between Academia / R&D & Industry/Business, by: Inviting

Universities &

• Institutes of High Repute in Varied Disciplines / Fields that feed into the Local & Global

Economy

• Inviting Technology Related Educational Institutions

• Inviting ICT Educational Institutions

• Providing Optimal Regulatory Environment to Industry/Business Companies for Operations

• Providing Optimal Regulatory Environment for ICT Companies for Operations

• Providing Optimal Facilities for R&D Activity

• Providing Facilities to Companies of all Sizes (Including Start-up Entrepreneurs)

TOTAL AREA = 852 ACRES

DISTANCE FROM LAHORE INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT = 11 Km

DISTANCE FROM NEAREST RING ROAD INTERCHANGE = 4.5Km

DISTANCE FROM NEAREST MAINROAD (7TH AVENUE ) = 200 m

Proposed Layout Option 2

Facilities

• Land for Educational Complexes on In-

expensive and Easy Terms

• Sports Stadiums

• Recreational Area

• Club House

• 5-Star Hotel

• Commercial Area for Restaurants & Cafes etc

• Auditorium

• Central Library

• Joint Facilities Area

• Research & Resource Development Centre

• Gymnasiums

• Business Park

• ICT Park

• Hospital & Allied Health Facilities

• Parks & Play Fields

• Gated Residential Area

• Lake

• Others

Dr Osamah Qureshi

DirectorStudent Counseling Services

Institute of Career Development

Offices in 6 cities in

PAKISTAN

E: [email protected]

www.myscs.org

Student recruitment, English Language Training

and Testing

www.icd.org.pk

Authorized Test Center for Cambridge English

See you at next ICEF!