The Higher Education Commission (HEC) has issued a notification, dated September 25, 2026, directing universities, degree-awarding institutions and affiliated colleges to stop enrolling new students in Associate Degree Programmes (ADPs) that are run through the annual examination system or offered to private candidates. The move comes after HEC found that a number of institutions had simply renamed their traditional two-year BA and BSc programmes as "Associate Degree" programmes without making the structural changes required under its policy. Under HEC's Undergraduate Education Policy (Version 1.1), which institutions were required to adopt starting Fall 2023, Associate Degree Programmes are meant to follow a semester system with defined credit hours and academic delivery standards, rather than the older annual examination model. HEC said that continuing to offer these programmes in annual or private-candidate mode could create serious problems for graduates later on, including difficulties with degree attestation, equivalence certification, admission to further studies, and recognition by employers. Institutions have now been instructed not to admit any new batch of students into Associate Degree Programmes through the annual system or as private candidates going forward. Students who are already considering enrolling in a two-year associate degree should confirm with their institution whether the specific programme is being run in the HEC-compliant semester format before taking admission, to avoid future complications with degree recognition.