Qualifications Guide
PAKISTAN
Foundation
HSc / FSc / FA / intermediate certificate
HSc / FSc / FA / intermediate Refer to INTO Foundation
65%+
Description: HSc / FSc / FA – also known locally as the “intermediate” certificate (and FSc streams
sometimes as “pre-medical” or “pre-engineering”).
The Higher Secondary School Certificate (HSc) is equivalent to GCSE if over 50%. Many students instead
take the FSc Diploma of Science / FA Diploma of Arts or Commerce, which is also below ‘A level’ standard. In
both cases students with 65%+ can enter our INTO Foundation programme. Very exceptional FSc science
stream students with excellent grades (90%) might be considered for year one UG entry / INTO Diploma.
For an example HSc certificate see Appendix 2.
Undergraduate
Qualification Entry point % / GPA Refer to INTO Diploma
2 year Year one undergraduate 63% or 2.9 53 - 63%
BA / BSc / BCom 2.5 - 2.9
(otherwise Foundation only)
3 year Year two undergraduate 63% or 2.9 53 - 63%
BA / BSc / Bcom - where relevant subject and subject match 2.5 – 2.9
match and school for either year one
approval undergraduate or INTO
diploma.
(otherwise Foundation only)
Description / offer making:
Note – Only a small number of institutions still offer the 2 year degree, and the 3 year degree is also being
phased out (in preference for a common 4 year hons degree), so these older qualifications should become less
common.
Note - Any 3 year degree transcript will need to be checked because 3 year hons degrees from two prestigious
universities are acceptable for direct entry to Masters (see Postgraduate section below)
There are a good number of ‘A’ level schools in Pakistan; these students will obviously apply direct for UG
entry, and will usually have also obtained GCSE English.
English Language
Excepting students studying in Brit curriculum schools who achieve GCSE English grade C or above, a
recognised English language test result is required in all cases.
Postgraduate:
Qualification Institution 2:1 equivalent 2:2 equivalent Refer to INTO
Grad Diploma
(Finance / Mgt /
Law / MPA)
3 year Ba / BSc / Lahore School of
BCom hons Economics
2.7+ 2.3 – 2.7 1.9 – 2.3
Characterised by Institute of Business 60% 53 – 60% 43 – 53%
extra summer Management, Karachi
semester each year, (IoBM, previously CBM) (or where 2:2
and total 128 credit equivalent
hour load insufficient for
programme)
4 year Bachelors Lahore University of
Management Sciences
(BA / BSc / BCom / (LUMS)
BBA /, BTech etc)
Institute of Business
and 2 year Masters Administration, Karachi
(IBA)
Foundation for
Advancement of
Science and
Technology (FAST)
National University of
Sciences and 2.7+ 2.3 – 2.7 1.9 – 2.3
Technology (NUST) 60%+ 53 - 60% 43 – 53%
Ghulam Ishaq Khan (or where 2:2
Institute of Engineering equivalent
Sciences and insufficient for
Technology (GIK); programme)
University of
Engineering and
Technology, Karachi
(NED)
Lahore School of
Economics (LSE)
COMSATS Institute of
Information Technology
4 Years Bachelors All other institutions 2.9+ 2.4 – 2.9 2.0 – 2.4
63%+ 56 - 63% 46 – 56%
and 2 year Masters
(or where 2:2
equivalent
insufficient for
programme)
Description / offer making:
Entry to Masters can only be considered where a student has completed 16 years of education (i.e. 4 years
post-secondary education) leading to an accredited degree. This may be achieved by:
• By completing a 4 year Bachelors degree
• By completing a 3 year Bachelors Hons degree where a four year credit load is undertaken in three
years (inc summer semesters) at one of the two universities named above.
• By completing a 2 year Bachelors plus 2 year Masters
Careful consideration of transcripts may be necessary to ascertain length of degree, so check all years’
transcripts and number of semesters.
Only a small number of universities still offer the 2 year degree, and all 3 year degrees (hons or not) are being
phased out in favour of a common 4 year degree.
A few universities offer one year Masters degrees, but these would be limited to graduates of 3 or 4 year
Bachelors degrees, so applicants should still meet the ‘16 years of education’ rule.
The Pakistani LLB is either a 3-year PG qualification (following a 2-yr Bachelors) or a 5-year first degree.
Students with good grades may be considered for entry onto our LLM. 55% may be sufficient even where a
2:1 equivalency is preferred, as grades of 60%+ are rare in Law.
Entry to MPhil / PhD: Students with strong grades in their Masters (preferably 70% or GPA 3.2+) might be
acceptable for entry to MPhil/PhD, although the student’s capacity to undertake self-directed research should
be carefully considered as Masters dissertations are relatively limited in scope.
MSc / MPhil Engineering degrees are an exception to this, as are considered directly comparable to UK
Masters.
Appendix 1:
Useful resources re. institutions
NARIC gives a full list of Pakistani institutions
A comprehensive list of universities is also given on the Higher Education Commission of Pakistan (HEC) web
site: http://www.hec.gov.pk/OurInstitutes/Pages/Default.aspx (scroll down)
Appendix 2:
Example of HSC / ‘Intermediate’ certificate.
Each subject is roughly equiv to GCSE grade A to C if above
50%, except English:
Example of Secondary School Certificate / Matriculation
which is below GCSE standard
RR Jan 2010
