Higher Education Commission (HEC) has officially postponed the implementation of its new centralized entry test system for all the public and private universities for graduate and post graduate admissions. True to the official announcement made in May 2026, the compulsory tests via the Education Testing Council (ETC), which are equivalent to the Higher Education Aptitude Test (HAT), will now be valid from Fall 2027, rather than Fall 2026.
The bizarre impetus behind delaying the exams has prompted thousands of students in the higher education sector to question the requirement for the HAT, NTS GAT or GRE for the current academic year. In this comprehensive article, the primary causes of the HEC postponing the adoption of a new test policy and clarifications on the admission requirements for Fall 2026 are explained.
Core Reasons Behind the HEC Policy Postponement
In mid-May 2026, the HEC released a statement calling for the phasing out of individual institutional tests by Degree Awarding Institutions (DAIs), replacing them with the HEC’s-wide Higher Education Community Test (HEC). The news of this sudden change, however, fell on fertile ground amongst key institutions and universities. They claim that changing to one national centralised mechanism in a few weeks had significant logistical, infrastructural and administrative challenges.
In view of these issues and the formal requests from the universities to give them a one-year period of grace for enforcing the centralized testing policy, the HEC Coordination Division in a considered manner extended the grace period by a calendar year. This extension will provide academic institutions ample time to ensure their entry portfolios are in harmony with the new national system.
Fall 2026 Graduate Admissions: Current Testing Status
The policy of the HEC on centralized testing is not waived for MPhil/MS (Level 7) and PhD (Level 8) admissions. Rather, for the current term testing will be scheduled in the traditional form as in the past:
Restriction and reinstatement of Institutions Tests: In the academic year 2026/2027, all public and private universities can now legally design and conduct their own Independent entry tests (General or Subject) of the university.
Acceptance of Third-Party Testing Agencies: The use of standard (normalized) examinations conducted by private or third-party testing agencies recognised by the HEC, e.g., the National Testing Service (NTS-GAT) will continue to be accepted for university admission for a limited period.
Minimum Passing Thresholds: The base line for a passing grade specified in the Graduate Education Policy (GEP) remains totally unchanged from what is required for graduation based on the state’s licensure requirements. The candidates will need to get 50% marks to apply for MS/MPhil and 60% marks to be eligible for the PhD program.
What Structural Changes Will Fall 2027 Bring?
The HEC policy of deferring entrants will be fully implemented in Fall 2027, the admitting system of the universities in Pakistan will be completely uniform:
Individual universities will no longer have the legal power to develop or administer “local” standardized assessment tests for post graduates proposed for admission.
There will be mandatory ETC Testing and candidates will be eligible for admission based on the national scorecards for the HAT General or specialized Subject tests generated through the HEC Education Testing Council (ETC) portal.
Merit Uniformity: The idea behind the centralization of merit is to provide uniform academic merit level in assessment, maximum transparency in assessment pool, to abolish regional grading bias, to create an equal assessment starting point for students in merit, etc.
The Higher Education Commission (HEC) provides access to the main platform for scholarships, education and regulatory notices. If an individual wishes to register for testing, they can directly log on to the HEC ETC Testing Service.
