Higher education in Pakistan is the systematic process of students continuing their education beyond secondary school, learned societies and two-year colleges. The governance of higher education is maintained under the Higher Education Commission (Pakistan) (HEC) which oversees the financial funding, research outputs and teaching quality in the country. In Pakistan, the higher education system includes the public, private and military universities, all accredited by the HEC. Since independence, new universities have expanded throughout the country with support provided by the University Grants Commission (UGC), which had been an autonomous institution of recognizing universities until 2002 when it was preceded by the Higher Education Commission. Pakistan produces about 445,000 university g