Foreign Universities to Recognize Pakistani Intermediate Certificates for Direct Admissions

The Executive Director of the Inter Board Coordination Commission (IBCC), Dr. Ghulam Ali Mallah, has announced that Pakistani intermediate certificates will soon be directly accepted for admission into foreign universities—a significant step forward in global academic recognition.

In an interview with a national daily, Dr. Mallah highlighted a range of modernization and digitization reforms being implemented by the IBCC. He revealed that the commission is actively collaborating with the UK’s ECCTIS (UK ENIC) to ensure direct recognition of Pakistani qualifications, with similar discussions underway with other countries and international education boards.

A key reform includes the elimination of sealed verification envelopes, as all 29 education and technical boards across Pakistan now support online verification. Verification services for religious seminary (madrassa) credentials will also be launched soon.

The IBCC has also introduced a fully digital equivalence and attestation system, issuing certificates embedded with QR-code authentication to enhance transparency and simplify verification.

Dr. Mallah further noted that the IBCC, formerly known as the Inter-Boards Committee of Chairmen, was restructured in 2023 under an Act of Parliament. The reformed commission now serves as the national regulator for foreign educational qualifications, evaluating them through a standardized 15-point criteria via an online portal.