UK and EU accreditation for institutes in Pakistan

Why Pakistani institutes ask about this

This guide is for private institutes and academies in Lahore, Karachi, Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Faisalabad and Peshawar, whether or not you already run a UK diploma.

Pakistan already knows the value of a UK professional qualification. ACCA's Pakistan site says HEC counts ACCA membership as the equal of a local master's degree. So a school in Lahore or Karachi launching its own diploma is up against that. A certificate backed only by the school's own name does not get far, which is why so many ask us about putting a recognised level behind it.

What Pakistani rules say

The Higher Education Commission's transnational education policy covers foreign programmes delivered in Pakistan, including franchise arrangements where a local institution delivers a foreign institution's degree. Two lines from the policy are worth reading before you plan anything:

• "No Pakistani institution offering foreign programs shall be allowed to conduct an academic program in anticipation of NOC."
• Where the rules are broken, HEC can withdraw permission and require the institution to return the fees it collected from students.

Press reports from June 2026 say HEC has also announced that foreign degrees completed entirely online or in blended mode will not be recognised after Spring 2026, unless the host country's regulator has approved the arrangement. We have seen this in press coverage only, not in HEC's own notice, so check it with HEC before you rely on it.

For vocational training, City and Guilds was approved to operate in Pakistan through the Federal Ministry of Education and IBCC in February 2026, and it works with NAVTTC on skills certification. We did not find a published NAVTTC procedure for recognising other international awarding bodies, so ask before you assume one exists.

Sources: HEC transnational education policy, ACCA Pakistan and press reports, linked below. Checked 28 October 2026.

The three routes, seen from Pakistan

Route 1: approved centre

An Ofqual-recognised awarding organisation approves your institute as a centre and you teach its qualification. Approval checks your policies, staff and premises or platform. After that you register each learner and the awarding organisation samples your marking before certificates are issued. Ofqual has said qualifications offered overseas are protected by its regulation so long as they are also taken by learners in England, so check the Register entry first. Ask for the fee list that applies to Pakistan.

Route 2: put your own programme on a UK framework

If you have built your own diploma or professional qualification, each of the four UK nations has a way to give it a level. They are not equally open to a school whose learners are all in Pakistan. In Scotland, a credit rating body can place it on the SCQF with credit points, one for every ten notional hours. In Wales, a CQFW competent body can endorse it and confirm its level. England and Northern Ireland are harder. An awarding organisation can make your programme a regulated qualification, but there is a snag: Ofqual says it can't regulate one that nobody sits in England or Northern Ireland. If all your learners are in Pakistan, that rules it out. And whoever you go to will ask to see the outcomes, the assessment and how you check quality. Each body sets its own fees and its own rules on programmes from abroad, and we ask before any work begins.

Route 3: Malta accreditation

Your programme is submitted to MFHEA under our partner institute's licence. If MFHEA approves it, learners study most of it online from Pakistan, attend a short classroom block in Malta and receive an award issued by the institute, with your school named as delivery partner. The current licence covers Levels 1 to 4. Higher levels depend on MFHEA approving the institute's extension to higher education. Given HEC's stance on online foreign degrees, we would not position a Malta award as a degree route for Pakistani learners.

What we would suggest

• If it looks like a degree, it goes through HEC. We will not use any of these routes to dodge an NOC, and nor should you.
• For professional and vocational courses, a UK or Malta level is useful. Just tell learners plainly what they are getting and whose name is on it.
• Before you contact anyone, have the programme on paper: outcomes, hours, how you assess, how you check quality. Three exam papers and a syllabus title will be turned away.

Apollo Accreditation is a consultancy. It is not a regulator or an awarding organisation and does not award qualifications. Pakistani rules change, so confirm the current position with HEC or NAVTTC before you act on it.