The Endless Struggle of Degree Verification in Pakistan — A Crisis Demanding Urgent Reform
By Ameer Umar Khan, Nursing Lecturer, Dakson Institute of Health Sciences, Islamabad
In Pakistan, the path from academic accomplishment to professional recognition is often an exhausting ordeal. What should be a straightforward administrative procedure has turned into a labyrinth of redundant verifications, unnecessary fees, and bureaucratic inefficiency. For countless graduates—particularly in nursing, medicine and other allied fields—the degree verification process stands as a barrier to progress rather than a bridge to opportunity.
A System that Exhausts Rather than Empowers
After years of academic diligence and financial sacrifice, graduates are first required to pay their universities to issue their degrees. Yet, the same institutions demand an additional payment to verify those very documents—a practice that defies logic and reflects deep institutional dysfunction.
This redundant verification practice is not just an inconvenience; it sends a message that even after years of effort and tuition fees, a graduate’s achievement is somehow untrustworthy until endlessly revalidated. For many, this creates an emotional toll that mirrors the administrative one—eroding confidence and discouraging further academic ambition.
A Maze of Procedures and Powerlessness
Once a degree has been verified by the issuing institution, graduates must then approach the Higher Education Commission (HEC). Here, they encounter another layer of bureaucracy. Instead of a streamlined, digital process, the HEC system is marred by long queues, unclear instructions, and an online portal prone to technical issues.
In theory, digitalisation was meant to simplify the experience. In practice, it often multiplies the frustration. Applicants find themselves repeatedly uploading scanned documents, resubmitting forms that time out mid-process, or waiting weeks for a status update that never arrives.
Even after successful HEC verification, the ordeal is not over. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) must again authenticate the same documents—despite the HEC’s established authority over higher education credentials. The repeated steps expose a striking lack of trust and coordination between institutions that should ideally operate in a shared system.
The Human Cost: Delayed Dreams and Lost Opportunities
For nursing graduates, the consequences of this system are deeply personal. Many aspire to work abroad, particularly in countries facing healthcare worker shortages. International employers often require verified documents before proceeding with job offers or visa processing.
Each week of delay in verification can mean the loss of an overseas opportunity. A single missing attestation can push back employment timelines by months, leaving graduates in limbo—financially strained, emotionally exhausted, and professionally stagnant.
Take, for instance, a group of nursing graduates from Islamabad who applied for positions in the Middle East. Their verification process, which should have taken a few weeks, stretched over three months due to errors in online submission and conflicting instructions from HEC and MOFA. By the time their documents were cleared, several job offers had expired. These are not isolated cases—they reflect a systemic issue that diminishes the very human capital Pakistan seeks to export.
A Wider Developmental and Humanitarian Concern
While the verification crisis may appear as a bureaucratic inconvenience, it has broader implications for Pakistan’s social and economic well-being. Skilled migration—particularly of nurses, doctors, and educators—forms a crucial part of Pakistan’s remittance economy and global reputation.
When competent professionals are trapped in procedural deadlock, the ripple effect is substantial. Hospitals abroad face shortages, while unemployed graduates at home confront mounting financial pressures. Families who depend on remittances face uncertainty. The inefficiency of this verification system, therefore, is not just an administrative issue—it is a humanitarian one, affecting livelihoods, morale and community stability.
Furthermore, the repeated verification requirement exposes inequities within the system. Graduates from urban universities often find it easier to navigate the bureaucracy, while those from rural or less-resourced institutions face compounded challenges—lack of internet access, limited guidance, and additional travel costs to verification centres. This deepens existing disparities in access to opportunity.
The Psychological Toll of Bureaucratic Fatigue
For many young professionals, the verification process becomes a test of resilience rather than competence. It fosters feelings of helplessness and disillusionment—emotions that are particularly damaging for those in service-oriented professions like nursing.
Graduates speak of repeated visits to offices, unresponsive helplines, and officials demanding unnecessary documentation. The perception that the system is designed to discourage rather than facilitate creates mistrust in public institutions. Over time, this erodes the social contract between citizens and the state—a subtle yet significant humanitarian concern.
A Call for Practical Reform: Streamlining Verification Through Trust and Technology
The solution to this problem lies not in more layers of verification, but in smarter coordination. A centralised, digital verification system should integrate universities, the HEC and MOFA under a single transparent platform. Once a degree is verified by an authorised body, it should be universally recognised across departments and ministries.
Such integration would require institutional cooperation, secure data sharing, and clearly defined responsibilities. Pakistan has the technological infrastructure to make this possible; what is lacking is administrative will and inter-agency trust.
In countries like the Philippines and India, digital verification systems have drastically reduced processing times and corruption risks. Pakistan could learn from these examples—adopting a verification portal that links academic databases directly with government attestation systems. This would ensure data integrity while sparing graduates from redundant procedures.
Moreover, introducing mobile verification units in remote areas could help bridge the urban–rural divide, ensuring equitable access. Similarly, establishing clear service timelines, automated notifications, and grievance redressal mechanisms would restore public confidence in the process.
Reform as a Form of Respect
Streamlining verification is not merely about efficiency; it is about respect for the time, effort and aspirations of Pakistan’s graduates. Each degree represents years of perseverance and sacrifice. Treating verification as a punitive obstacle rather than a facilitative service devalues that commitment.
Pakistan’s policymakers must recognise that education is not complete until it leads to opportunity. The bureaucratic hurdles between graduation and employment undermine not only individual futures but also national progress.
Conclusion: From Bureaucracy to Belief
Reforming degree verification may seem like a technical exercise, but it carries profound social meaning. It represents a shift from a culture of suspicion to one of trust; from fragmented authority to cooperative governance.
By adopting an integrated, transparent verification framework, Pakistan can reaffirm its faith in its educated citizens—and in the very idea of progress. For the thousands of young professionals striving to serve at home and abroad, such reform would not just simplify paperwork; it would restore hope.
A society that honours education must ensure that its systems do the same. It is time for Pakistan to move beyond the endless cycle of stamps and signatures, towards a future where achievement is recognised once—and respected always. |