University internship fee cut: students to pay for 1 credit hour instead of 3, NA told

University students in Pakistan will be charged for one credit hour, not three, for their compulsory internship, Parliamentary Secretary for Federal Education Rabia Naseem Farooqi told the National Assembly on Thursday, after a lawmaker complained that one university was charging Rs 25,000 for an internship. She said the federal education ministry had written to every university through the Higher Education Commission (HEC) about a month ago, telling them to cut what students pay, ProPakistani reported.

What changes for students

• The internship is compulsory: undergraduates do a two-month internship during the sixth semester.
• It counts for three credit hours on the transcript.
• Fees: under the revised arrangement, universities are to charge for only one credit hour instead of three. Since most universities bill tuition per credit hour, that cuts the internship charge by about two-thirds for a student on a per-credit fee structure.
• No extra charges: Farooqi said monitoring has been strengthened so that students are placed and are not asked for additional fees on top. She promised to share details of the monitoring teams with the House.

Do all universities offer internships?

Farooqi said all 282 universities in Pakistan run internship programmes and that "no university" operates without one. About two-thirds are public and one-third private. Placements follow the student's discipline: computer science students go to software houses, agriculture students to farms, and mechanical engineering students to sites run by the Oil and Gas Development Company (OGDCL).

The question came through a Calling Attention Notice on whether there are enough internships for a fast-growing number of students. MNA Alia Kamran asked whether placements were keeping up and alleged, without naming it, that one university was charging Rs 25,000.

What you can do

1. Check your fee voucher for the internship semester. If the internship is billed at three credit hours, ask your university's accounts office about the ministry's letter routed through the HEC.
2. Ask your department for a placement if you have not been offered one; the ministry's position is that placing students is the university's job.
3. Raise a complaint with the HEC if the university does not respond.

Working out where you stand for the semester? Our CGPA calculator shows how a three-credit internship grade moves your overall CGPA, and the Sindh government's paid internship for degree holders opens in November (details here).