The Higher Education Commission (HEC) has launched Pakistan Qualification Register (PQR) through e-portal system so that stakeholders of HEC can view online those programmes of Pakistani Universities/Degree Awarding Institutions that have been approved by HEC.

PQR is an online database which contains information regarding accredited higher qualifications and institutions recognized by HEC of all public and private sector universities including their sub campuses and affiliated as well as constituent colleges.

PQR is aimed to provide clearly deﬁned levels of knowledge, skills and competencies to be acquired by every graduate.

HEC started developing a Qualiﬁcation Framework for higher education sector in 2009 and took necessary steps to develop tools for implementing the framework covering all HEC chartered public and private higher education institutions in the country.

PQF is a level-based and outcomes focused mechanism. It sets out the levels on which a qualiﬁcation can be recognized in Pakistan. It encompasses a comprehensive list of all quality assured qualiﬁcations in Pakistan. Each accredited qualiﬁcation has been assigned a level. It consists of Entry Level-1 to Level-8, describing the diﬃculty of qualiﬁcations at each level.

PQF has been structured to help learners to make informed decisions about the qualiﬁcation required, and will help employers to assess what qualiﬁcation a candidate has achieved. It will help in establishing the national standards of qualiﬁcations as well as provide a basis for comparison of qualiﬁcations at national as well as international levels.

Further, it will help in international recognition of academic qualiﬁcations, facilitate trans-national mobility of graduates and learners, in addition to be used as an instrument for qualitative reforms in education system.

The first announcement for nomination of Focal Persons for PQR and populating the data by universities was made by HEC in October 2016. The response of universities on PQR has been encouraging and till date 144 HEC recognized universities and degree awarding institutions, out of total 183 institutions, have nominated their Focal Persons. It is worth mentioning that till date 15098 programmes have been listed in the PQR portal .

The universities have been informed that PQR is going to be linked to HEC initiatives such as attestation system of degrees awarded by the universities, appointment of HEC approved supervisors, award of national research grants for universities, thematic research grants for social sciences, indigenous/overseas scholarships, etc.