HEC launches national series to strengthen university quality assurance

LAHORE: The Higher Education Commission’s Quality Assurance Agency has started a national academic leadership engagement series aimed at improving institutional quality assurance in higher education across Pakistan.

The initiative, titled The quality compact on the Pakistan precepts, standards and guidelines for quality assurance in higher education (PSG-2023), began with its first regional session for Punjab at Forman Christian College University in Lahore. According to the details shared by HEC, the event was attended by around 100 senior university officials, including deans and registrars, from 29 higher education institutions in the province.

The opening ceremony featured welcome remarks by FCCU Rector Dr Jonathan Addleton, while HEC Quality Assurance Agency Director General Nasir Shah formally inaugurated the series. Speaking at the event, Shah stressed the need for institutions to move beyond meeting formal requirements and instead take ownership of quality assurance processes, in line with the updated PSG-2023 framework.

Participants were introduced to HEC’s three expository facets framework, which focuses on contextual understanding, ownership and maturity. The session also included an overview of the PERLI Golden Thread and the newly introduced Q-CIRCLE digital platform, which has been designed to facilitate real-time institutional quality monitoring.

In his concluding remarks, Shah praised participants for what was described as their active involvement and contributions during the day-long engagement. The commission said the series would continue in other parts of the country as part of its broader effort to develop a stronger and self-improving quality assurance environment in the higher education sector.