HEC has planned to conduct a centralized test for the placement of bright IT students in the industry under an academia-industry co-opt program. The test is free for all students enrolled in HEC-recognized universities in 7th semester. The test shall be conducted on January 07, 2024, through the virtual university.

The students may apply on https://www.vu.edu.pk/GradateTest/ portal for registration till 31 December 2023. Students qualifying the test will be offered placement in IT companies including top IT exporters in Pakistan through P@SHA to acquire hands-on experience on real-time projects. The qualifying candidates of the above-mentioned co-opt program will be considered for an exemption up to 06 credit hours in the 8th Semester against electives or mandatory field experience.

Upon successful completion of the co-opt program, the credentials of the candidates with recommendations shall be placed on PSEB and P@SHA portals for access of a large pool of IT companies leading to job offers.

A series of meetings were held amongst the relevant stakeholders including the National Computing Education Accreditation Council (NCEAC), Ministry of IT & Telecommunication (MoITT), Pakistan Software Export Board (PSEB), Pakistan IT Industry Association (P@SHA) and Higher Education Commission (HEC) to identify the IT industry-academia gap and ways to improve the market readiness of IT students. As an initial step, in consultation with stakeholders, a centralized test is being planned through Virtual University (VU) for the placement of bright IT students in the industry under an academia-industry.