ISLAMABAD:Parliamentary Secretary for the Federal Education and Professional Training Division Rabia Naseem Farooqi on Thursday informed the National Assembly that all 282 universities across Pakistan were providing internship opportunities to students, making it mandatory for them to complete a two-month internship during their sixth semester.
Responding to a Calling Attention Notice regarding the non-provision of internship opportunities to students at universities recognised by the Higher Education Commission (HEC) and its affiliated or listed institutions across the country, she said around two-thirds of the country’s universities were in the public sector and one-third in the private sector.
She categorically stated that no university in Pakistan was operating without an internship programme.
She said internships were arranged according to students’ academic disciplines, with computer science students placed in software houses, agriculture students on agricultural farms, and mechanical engineering students at sites operated by the
Oil and Gas Development Company Limited (OGDCL).
The internship carried three academic credits on students’ transcripts, she added.
However, a member of the National Assembly raised concerns about the lack of internship opportunities for engineering graduates, saying around 3,000 engineers in Balochistan were unemployed.
The lawmaker asked the parliamentary secretary to identify even one student from Balochistan who had been provided an internship in the Communications Department in the province. The member also pointed out that graduates who had remained unemployed for years needed opportunities.
In response, Farooqi asked the member to identify any university where internships were not being offered and provide relevant student data. She said the matter would be taken up with the concerned authorities for necessary action.
She also informed the House that a Digital Youth platform had been established at the national level on the prime minister’s directives to provide young people access to various opportunities and services through a single-window facility.
Meanwhile, Member National Assembly (MNA) Alia Kamran questioned the adequacy of internship opportunities in view of the growing number of universities. Without naming the institution, she alleged that a university was charging students Rs25,000 for internships.
She asked what measures the government and the HEC had taken to involve the public and private sectors in expanding internship opportunities.
Responding to the concern, Farooqi said the federal ministry had issued a letter to all universities through the HEC about a month earlier, directing them to reduce the financial burden on students undertaking internships.
Under the revised arrangement, students completing internships would be charged for only one credit hour instead of three, she added.
She said the measure was intended to ease the financial burden on students and assured lawmakers that the relevant letter would be shared with them.
MNA Shahida Begum subsequently sought details of the monitoring mechanism to ensure the effective implementation of the internship policy.
She said framing a policy and making internships compulsory were not enough. She asked whether monitoring teams visited universities and how the government ensured that the policy was being implemented in practice.
In response, Farooqi said the HEC had a monitoring system under which its teams visited universities to check compliance.
She added that monitoring of the internship policy had been further tightened to ensure that more students received internship opportunities and were not charged additional fees.
The parliamentary secretary assured lawmakers that details of the monitoring teams and their procedures would be provided to them.