Check if an Engineering Programme Is PEC Accredited Before Admission
PEC registers only graduates of accredited engineering programmes. Check your university, campus and intake batch on PEC's free lists before you pay any fee.
Before you take admission in any engineering degree in Pakistan, check that the programme and your intake batch are accredited by the Pakistan Engineering Council (PEC). PEC registers only graduates of accredited programmes. Without that registration you cannot work as a Registered Engineer. The lists are free on pec.org.pk, under Accreditation, in the Level-I and Level-II pages.
We read the PEC lists on 2 October 2026. The accredited programmes page carries the First Schedule as updated by SRO 1809(I)/2025, dated 17 September 2025. Its summary table counts 509 accredited engineering programmes across Pakistan.
PEC accreditation decides whether you can register as an engineer
PEC says it will register only graduates of accredited engineering programmes and batches listed in the First or Second Schedule of the PEC Act. A degree from a programme that is not on those schedules does not lead to PEC registration.
That is not a small thing. PEC's guidelines define a Registered Engineer as someone who holds an accredited engineering qualification. A Registered Engineer may do all professional engineering work except independently signing designs.
PEC said this in a public notice addressed to students, parents and universities. It told them to make sure a programme is accredited "before seeking admission". The notice is still linked from the Accreditation page.
How to check a programme on the PEC website
Open pec.org.pk, go to Accreditation, and open both the Level-I and Level-II programme pages. Find your university under its region, then find the exact programme name and the intake years listed against it. Your batch must fall inside those years.
- Write down three things. The university, the exact campus or college, and the exact programme name, such as BSc Electrical Engineering.
- Open the PEC Accreditation menu. It sits on the PEC home page. Open "Programs Under Level-I" and then "Programs Under Level-II".
- Pick your region. The page lets you jump to Islamabad, Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Sindh, Balochistan and AJ&K.
- Find the campus, not just the university. PEC lists campuses and affiliated colleges separately. A main campus programme can be accredited while the same programme at another campus is not.
- Read the batch years. Entries say, for example, "From Intake of Batch 2010 to 2014". If your intake year is outside the range, ask the university why.
- Save a screenshot with the date showing, and keep it with your admission papers.
Accreditation is given batch by batch
PEC does not accredit a programme forever. It lists accreditation against intake batches, so one year's students can be covered while another year's are not. Read the years printed next to the programme, not only its name.
The lists show how fine the detail gets. Some entries cover a single batch, such as "Intake of Batch Fall 2002 only". Some say a batch was accredited only for graduates who finished remedial courses verified by the university. One entry says the batches from 2004 to 2008 were not accredited at all.
The summary table at the top of the First Schedule splits the 509 programmes by region:
| Region | Accredited programmes |
|---|---|
| Punjab | 197 |
| Sindh | 119 |
| Islamabad | 83 |
| Khyber Pakhtunkhwa | 81 |
| Balochistan | 19 |
| AJ&K | 9 |
| Gilgit-Baltistan | 1 |
| Total | 509 |
The table also splits them by level: 73 programmes at 37 institutions under Level-I, and 436 programmes at 147 institutions under Level-II. Check both pages, because a programme can move between them.
New programmes start with permission, not accreditation
A brand new engineering programme can start teaching after PEC grants a no objection certificate, called an NOC. That NOC is not accreditation. PEC accredits a new programme only after an evaluation visit in its final year, so your first batch carries real risk.
PEC's notice spells this out. After an initial "zero visit", PEC may grant an NOC to start a programme. Later visits check it. Only programmes that meet the criteria at the final-year visit are accredited, and PEC registers graduates only once accreditation is notified through an SRO in the Gazette. The notice says an NOC "does not guarantee" accreditation.
PEC keeps a separate list of programmes under this zero or interim stage, linked from the Accreditation menu. The copy we opened was dated 2023, so ask the university for its latest PEC letter as well.
The rules bind universities too. PEC says each university must send admitted students' data on its SIS portal within one month of admissions. If it does not, the batch can be declared ineligible for accreditation and registration. That is another question worth asking at admission.
Studying engineering abroad has its own PEC rule
For students who went abroad for engineering after Fall 2021, PEC registers graduates only if they had 60 percent marks in FSc Pre-Engineering or equivalent. The foreign programme must also be accredited by a body PEC accepts, such as a Washington Accord signatory.
PEC's Second Schedule lists the foreign programmes and bodies it accepts. Check it before you pay an overseas university, not after you return. Your HEC paperwork comes later, through HEC degree attestation or equivalence.
Money is also tied to accreditation. The Punjab Workers Welfare Fund, for example, pays its highest private fee cap for engineering programmes that are PEC accredited, as set out in its rules for the workers welfare scholarship in Punjab.
Plan early. Engineering admissions at big public universities can close before A Level results arrive, so map the university admission calendar against your PEC checks.
Common questions
Where is the list of PEC accredited universities?
On pec.org.pk, under Accreditation, in the pages "Programs Under Level-I" and "Programs Under Level-II". The foreign list is the Second Schedule.
Can I get PEC registration from a non-accredited programme?
No. PEC says it registers only graduates of accredited programmes and batches in its First or Second Schedule.
My university has a PEC NOC. Is that enough?
No. An NOC lets a programme start. PEC says it does not guarantee accreditation, which comes after the final-year visit.
Is a whole university accredited by PEC?
No. PEC accredits each programme, at each campus, for specific intake batches. Check all three.
How do I complain about an engineering admission?
PEC asks for complaints about admissions and seat numbers to be emailed to registrar@pec.org.pk. Its office number is 051-9204466.
How we verified this
What we checked, where we read it, and what we could not confirm.
Last checked 2 October 2026. We read PEC's accredited programmes page, which carries the First Schedule updated by SRO 1809(I)/2025 of 17 September 2025 and the 509 programme summary table. We read PEC's notice to students, parents and universities (PID(I)6142/23), linked from its Accreditation page, its Registered Engineer guidelines, and its zero or interim list, which was dated 2023. PEC's pages do not define Level-I and Level-II, so we have not explained the difference.
About the author
Public Services and Education Journalist
Fajr Riaz is a journalist and content writer at Pakistan Era, based in Lahore. She covers the questions people meet in everyday life in Pakistan: how a public service works, what a change in the rules means, and where to find a reliable answer.
