HEC Reveals Start Date for Mandatory AI Course in Universities
Wire desk byline Sourced from Xinhua, Dawn, Arab News, Anadolu and Minute Mirror. Translated and abridged by the GSRRA Desk.
The Higher Education Commission (HEC) has approved a mandatory three-credit-hour Artificial Intelligence course for all undergraduate and postgraduate degree programs in Pakistan from Fall 2026.
The requirement will apply to all public and private universities and to students from every academic discipline.
According to the HEC, the course is intended to provide graduates with basic AI knowledge and practical competencies needed in an increasingly technology-driven global economy.
The decision was taken during the 47th meeting of the HEC, chaired by HEC Chairman Dr. Niaz Ahmad Akhtar at the commission’s secretariat in Islamabad. The meeting was attended by federal and provincial representatives, vice chancellors, and other commission members.
The commission also granted in-principle approval to a national framework for the responsible use of Generative Artificial Intelligence in higher education institutions.
However, the draft was returned to the HEC Secretariat so that further recommendations from commission members could be incorporated before its formal notification.
A proposed Data Protection Policy for sharing institutional data with external government organizations through APIs also received in-principle approval. It was returned for further legal and technical refinement based on feedback provided during the meeting.
Reference Link:- https://propakistani.pk/2026/07/24/hec-reveals-start-date-for-mandatory-ai-course-in-universities/
Zamir Ahmed Awan is the founder and Chair of the Global Silk Route Research Alliance, a think tank in Islamabad. He studied engineering at Shanghai University in the 1980s, and years later he went back to China as Pakistan's science counsellor in Beijing, from 2010 until 2016, working on science and higher education cooperation between the two countries.…
