UGC, AICTE warn Indian students studying in Pakistan

Islamabad: Pakistan's Foreign Office on Monday deplored a joint advisory by the UGC and the AICTE asking Indian students not to pursue studies in Pakistan and sought a clarification from India on the matter. The University Grants Commission (UGC) and the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) on Friday in a joint advisory urged Indian students not to enroll themselves in any college or educational institution in Pakistan.

The advisory said that any Indian national or Overseas Citizen of India who intends to take admission to any degree college or educational institution of Pakistan shall not be eligible for seeking employment or higher studies in India on the basis of such educational qualifications (in any subject) acquired in Pakistan. "Pakistan strongly deplores the so-called 'Public Notice' issued by the University Grants Ed Commission of India and the All India Council for Technical Education, advising students not to seek higher education in Pakistan and warning them of being denied employment in case they choose to do so," the Foreign Office (FO) said in a statement on Monday.

"It is regrettable that driven by its incurable obsession with Pakistan, the Government of India is unabashedly coercing the students in order to deter them from pursuing quality education of their choice," the FO said. "We have sought clarification from the Indian government with reference to the said Public Notice," it said. Pakistan reserves the right to take appropriate measures in response to this "openly discriminatory and inexplicable action by India," it added.

Meanwhile, it was unclear how many Indian students, especially from Kashmir, would be affected by the public notice. "Students from Kashmir may be studying in some universities here but we don't have any consolidated data with us," an official of the Higher Commission of Pakistan (HEC) told PTI on condition of anonymity. Efforts by PTI to get data on the Indian students from individual universities were so far not successful. An official of the Punjab University in Lahore said they were still looking if there was any student from India enrolled in the university. The joint advisory by the UGC and AICTE comes within a month of the higher education regulator warning Indian students planning to pursue higher studies in China, saying it does not recognise "degree courses done only in online mode without prior approval". The UGC had issued an advisory in 2019 against studying in institutes in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.