The sub-committee of the Senate Standing Committee on Overseas Pakistanis and Human Resource Development held a long session with several state institutions to discuss serious issues faced by overseas Pakistani workers concerning training, certifications and verification of degrees from concerned departments including the Higher Education Commission (HEC), the Foreign Office (FO), the Ministry of Industries and Production (MOIP), Ministry of Federal Education and Professional Training (MOFEPT), National University of Technology (NUTECH), National Vocational and Technical Training Commission (NAVTTC), Pakistan Industrial Technical Assistance Center (PITAC), Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunication (MOITT), and Pakistan Institute of Management ( PIM).
Degrees, certificates and professional licenses’ attestation and verification are very important processes that ensure the authenticity and correctness of academic credentials. The process of degree attestation and verification play an important role in job search and getting employment in the country and abroad because the recruitment agencies and Employer firms wholy rely on degree attestation and verification to confirm the qualifications of potential hires, avoid fraud, and ensure a rightful prospect join their team and contribute to the development and growth of their company.
Historically, Pakistani students and professionals in the country as well as Pakistani overseas workers abroad in the Middle East and Europe face utmost hurdles and suffer long wait for degrees issuance, attestation and verification of their documents at the Higher Education Commission and other departments due to discourteous behavior, bureaucratic attitude and corruption of the low tier officials of those departments. Although, the HEC has made appreciable efforts by launching an online portal for all applicants for permanent data storage, record keeping and the facilitation of the applicants but that sane endeavor has become a hindrance due to the non professionalism of HEC officials and no supervision by the senior executives.
There is no time frame for HEC response for review of online application, scan of resubmitted application and redressal of queries. The urgent cases take months and no time limit has been set for routine applications and resolution of issues adding to anxiety and problems of the public. Similarly, Universities, colleges and other technical institutions have laid down a policy for degree/ certificate/ license issuance, verification and attestation but the major hurdle has been the fee submission, an early processing of application and dealing with the people sitting abroad or at distant locations within the country. The public institutions must make better use of modern technologies, online resources and telecommunication mediums to the optimum level to provide speedy service delivery and resolution of the public issues. So our fellow citizens and overseas workers do not face any difficulty in getting admission in foreign universities, and employment abroad anywhere in this Universe.
