ISLAMABAD: Voicing concern over the future of around 3,000 students enrolled under the ComsatsLancaster dual degree programme, student representatives on Wednesday demanded award of dualdegrees as per commitment to the students.

Addressing a press conference here at the National Press Club, Central Secretary General, Anjuman Tulba Islam (ATI), Rehan Tahir and Syed Waqar Shah said that around 3,000 students were enrolled in Comsats` dual degree programme, but the HEC was not verifying the degree of Lancaster University.

The students who qualihed for the degrees demanded they should be awarded degrees as per the decision of Senate Standing Committee on Science and Technology.

Comsats and Higher Education Commission have been playing with the future of these students as after four years of studies, now their foreign degrees are not being verified by the HEC, they said.

The HEC has been claiming that Comsats had started this programme without getting prior permission from the HEC and the Pakistan Engineering Council.

Comsats has been claiming that before starting this programme they got verbal permission from the HEC.

The students said if the programme was against the HEC`s standards, why the commission had not stopped the programme to save the money and time of the students.

`What is our fault, we paid huge amount, we did hard work but now we are being denied foreign degree,` said Jawad Ahmed, who passed the exams to earn dual degrees.

The students also showed their concerns over the recent hike in fee by Quaid-iAzam University.

`Recently, the QAU increased fee from 25 to 50 per cent,` said Syed Waqar Shah, an officebearer of the ATI and demanded the HEC to intervene.