HEC Recognised Sub-Campuses List in Pakistan: Only 42 Campuses of 20 Private Universities Are Approved
HEC recognises only 42 sub-campuses of 20 private universities. Check the full list, the PPP campus ban and new affiliation stop before you pay admission fees.
Only 20 private universities in Pakistan have HEC-recognised sub-campuses, 42 campuses in all. Any other sub-campus of a private university cannot legally offer an ADP, BS, MS, MPhil or PhD, and HEC says it will not recognise or attest degrees from it. Check the campus, not just the university name, before you pay a spring 2027 admission fee.
The Higher Education Commission (HEC) counts 109 recognised private degree awarding institutions. Its public alert lists only 20 of them as having approved sub-campuses. A university can be fully recognised at its main campus and still run a branch in another city that HEC has never approved.
HEC recognises 42 sub-campuses of 20 private universities
The HEC list names 20 private universities and 42 approved sub-campuses, including four offshore campuses in London, Mauritius, Dubai and Ras Al Khaimah. If a campus is not on the list, HEC treats it as unlawful, whatever the advertisement says.
Here is the full list from the HEC public alert, by university and city. The address matters, because some universities have more than one site in the same city.
| University (main campus) | Recognised sub-campus |
|---|---|
| Aga Khan University, Karachi | London, UK (offshore) |
| FAST NUCES, Islamabad | Lahore (Faisal Town), Karachi, Peshawar (Hayatabad), Chiniot |
| Riphah International University, Islamabad | Lahore (Hamdard Chowk Township, Raiwind Road, Quaid-e-Azam Industrial Estate), Faisalabad, Malakand (Chakdara), Islamabad (Gulberg Greens), Sahiwal |
| Ibadat International University, Islamabad | Pakpattan |
| National College of Business Administration and Economics, Lahore | Multan, Bahawalpur, Rahim Yar Khan |
| The Superior University, Lahore | Okara, Sargodha, Rahim Yar Khan, Faisalabad |
| University of Lahore | Sargodha |
| University of Management and Technology, Lahore | Sialkot |
| Greenwich University, Karachi | Mauritius (offshore) |
| Hamdard University, Karachi | Islamabad (Chak Shahzad) |
| ILMA University, Karachi | Karachi (Gulshan-e-Iqbal) |
| Iqra University, Karachi | Islamabad (H-9, Chak Shahzad), Karachi (Bahria Town, Gulshan-e-Iqbal, North Karachi) |
| SZABIST, Karachi | Islamabad (H-8/1), Larkana, Hyderabad, Gharo (Thatta), Dubai (offshore) |
| Ziauddin University, Karachi | Sukkur |
| Iqra National University, Peshawar | Swat (Odigram) |
| Preston University, Kohat | Islamabad (H-8/1) |
| Sarhad University of Science and IT, Peshawar | Islamabad (near T-Chowk Rawat), Mardan, Ras Al Khaimah, UAE (offshore) |
| Abasyn University, Peshawar | Islamabad (Park Road) |
| Qurtaba University of Science and IT, Dera Ismail Khan | Peshawar (Hayatabad Phase 3) |
| Al-Hamd Islamic University, Quetta | Islamabad (Shahpur, Bhara Kahu) |
Any other sub-campus of a private university is not allowed to offer degree programmes anywhere except at its principal seat. That is HEC's wording, and it covers a two year ADP just as much as a PhD.
How to check a campus before you pay
Match three things: the university, the city and the street address. Then confirm on HEC's recognised institutions page. A campus with the right university name but a different address in the same city does not count as approved.
- Write down the exact campus address from the admission advertisement or prospectus.
- Find the university in the table above. If it is not there, only its main campus is recognised.
- Check that the city and address match the HEC entry.
- Open the HEC recognised universities page at hec.gov.pk/site/Accreditation and look up the institution and its campuses.
- For a computing, business or engineering degree, also check the programme accreditation for that campus.
Programme approval is a separate test. A recognised campus can still run a programme that is not accredited. For computing, check NCEAC accreditation for BS Computer Science, and for engineering, check whether the programme is PEC accredited.
No university may open a sub-campus through a PPP deal
HEC says no university is currently allowed to run sub-campuses under the public-private partnership (PPP) model. HEC has told GC University Faisalabad to stop further admissions at its Layyah and Sahiwal sub-campuses, which were authorised under PPP only until 23 April 2022 and 14 August 2023.
A PPP campus is a branch where a public university lends its name and a private partner runs the building and teaching. HEC says it does not endorse such proposals after it found academic irregularities and quality problems at PPP campuses of some public universities in Punjab, several of which later closed.
So a public university's name on the gate is not enough. Ask the campus office for its HEC approval letter, and check the HEC website yourself. Degrees from unapproved campuses will not be validated for verification or attestation.
Public universities can no longer give new college affiliations
HEC has directed public universities that can grant affiliation under their Acts to stop giving fresh affiliation to any college or institution, and to new programmes, until it issues revised criteria. Universities must also withdraw affiliation advertisements from print and social media.
This matters if a college tells you its BS is "affiliated with" a public university and the affiliation is new. HEC warns that breaking these directions will lead to it refusing recognition and attestation for the non-compliant university's degrees, plus action under its SOPs. HEC has also said private universities may not grant affiliation to colleges at all.
Before you enrol, ask the college for the affiliation letter and its date, and check the parent university's own list of affiliated colleges.
What happens if your campus is not recognised
HEC will not attest the degree or transcript. Without HEC attestation, the degree is not accepted for most government jobs, for higher study, or for embassy and foreign ministry attestation abroad. The loss usually shows up years later, when you apply.
Degree attestation runs online through HEC's e-services portal, and the first check is whether the institution and campus are recognised. If yours is not, the application stops there. The steps for a valid degree are in HEC degree attestation online.
HEC has separately halted fresh intake in computing programmes at 44 institutions under review after the National Skill Competency Test. If you are choosing a computing degree this spring, also check the 44 institutions with suspended computing admissions.
Common questions
Does HEC attest a degree from an unapproved sub-campus?
No. HEC says degrees and transcripts from unlawful or unaccredited sub-campuses will not be recognised or attested, even when the main university is recognised.
How many private universities have recognised sub-campuses?
Twenty of the 109 HEC-recognised private universities, with 42 recognised sub-campuses between them, including offshore campuses in London, Mauritius, Dubai and Ras Al Khaimah.
Is a public university's sub-campus run with a private partner allowed?
No new ones. HEC says no university is currently permitted to run sub-campuses under the public-private partnership model, and it has told GC University Faisalabad to stop admissions at its Layyah and Sahiwal sub-campuses.
Where do I check a campus on the HEC website?
Use the recognised universities and degree awarding institutions section at hec.gov.pk/site/Accreditation, and match the campus city and address.
My university is recognised but its city campus is not on the list. What should I do?
Treat that campus as unapproved until HEC lists it. Ask the university for the HEC approval letter for that exact campus, and do not pay fees until you have checked it.
Does campus recognition mean my programme is accredited?
No. Campus recognition and programme accreditation are separate. Computing, business and engineering degrees also need their council's accreditation for that campus.
How we verified this
What we checked and where we read it.
We checked these HEC pages on 15 November 2026: the announcement "Public Alert: Don't Take Admission in Sub-Campuses that HEC Doesn't Recognise" and its full list image; "Parents and Students Alert: HEC will not Attest Degrees obtain from Un-Approved Sub-Campuses", which carries the PPP note on GC University Faisalabad; and "Public Alert: Universities Barred from Granted New Affiliations to Institutions". All three are on the HEC announcements page. The alerts are published as images, not text, and do not carry a date. The list above is copied from the image; HEC's recognised institutions page remains the authority for any later change.
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.
