Ministry approves draft law: IT accreditation council
ISLAMABAD- The law ministry has approved a draft law on Accreditation Council for Education in IT after constant persuasion by science and technology minister Dr Attaur Rehman.
“Now the draft ordinance, intended to streamline and standardize the mushroom growth of different IT institutes in the country, is ready to be submitted before the Cabinet for final endorsement,” the source said.
Earlier, the law ministry had rejected the law on the grounds that education fell within the provincial domain under the 1973 Constitution, the source said.
The draft ordinance, submitted to the law ministry few months ago for vetting, was prepared by the science and technology ministry after it had to seek its approval from the chief executive office when the education ministry failed to respond for 18 months.
The ordinance lays down minimum requirements of IT education to ensure that the institutions have the required physical, professional and financial resources.
According to the draft ordinance, only those IT institutions that conform to the minimum requirements will be granted accreditation by the council in the public as well as private sectors.
The council will comprise eight members, out of which the chairman is to be nominated by the federal government, while the members, including a woman, will be prominent IT educationists.
The law also bars those institutions from operating that have not been granted accreditation by restricting them from issuing certificates, diplomas and degrees in IT disciplines.
The draft law also empowers the council to withdraw accreditation if it finds that an institution is unable to meet minimum requirements.
The council can also validate the curricula and syllabi of the accredited institutions of higher education, and supervise their academic programme and development schemes. This is to ensure that the internal procedures for review and upgradation of curricula remain effective even after accreditation has been granted.
It will also inspect the institutions to ensure that the minimum requirements are being met, besides monitoring academic performance, internal procedures for course development, quality control, standard of education and staff development programmes. In addition to this, it will conduct periodic academic audit of institutions that have been granted accreditation.
The council will prepare the syllabi and formulate recommendations and guidelines for improving the standards and quality of teaching, education, research and system of examination to maintain uniform standards.
With the help of local, federal or provincial governments’ agencies, it can also close an institution or withdraw affiliation, if standards are not maintained and any provision of the ordinance is violated.
It can also ask for reports or any other information from the institutions and undertake any other measures with the approval of the government to enforce accreditation if the institution fails to cooperate with the council or comply with the rules and regulation laid down by it.
The council will also force the institutions to inform the general public of their accreditation. It will prepare the list of the accredited institutions for the information of the public.
Under the law, an appeal against the final order of the council can be filed within 60 days. The decision will be taken by the federal government within 90 day.
Source: Dawn
Date:5/31/2002
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