ISLAMABAD - Chairman of Pakistan Engineering Council (PEC), Engr Syed Abdul Qadir Shah, has sought technical and academic help from Malaysia to adopt outcome-based accreditation system for engineering universities and institutions in Pakistan.He expressed this desire in a meeting with the delegates from Board of Engineers Malaysia (BEM). Engr Shah called for arranging on-site visits of PEC’s evaluation experts to the engineering universities in Malaysia. The two-member delegation which included Engr Megat Johari and Engr Azlan Abdul Aziz appreciated the hospitality provided to them during their stay February in Islamabad. They assured the Chairman of their full support in implementing the modern accreditation system for engineering education in Pakistan.Syed Abdul Qadir Shah stated that PEC is striving to obtain international recognition for engineering graduates. For this purpose, PEC has approached the International Engineering Alliance (IEA) and regulatory bodies of developed countries. Malaysia, being the permanent member of IEA, is providing technical support to PEC to represent Pakistan’s case for permanent membership, he added.  Malaysia is the only Islamic country holding permanent membership of International Engineering Alliance.  PEC represented Pakistan in IEA meetings to benefit substantial equivalence of its engineering qualification and mobility of engineering graduates across the borders. Pakistan was accepted as provisional member of the alliance in June 2010, he said. In order to attain the permanent membership status, PEC is working to synchronize the accreditation procedures with international standards and following/adopting the procedures as prescribed and practiced by other IEA member countries, he added.IEA is a consortium of engineering bodies from developed countries that recognizes the substantial equivalency of engineering educational programs accredited by those bodies and recommends that graduates of programs accredited by any of the member country be recognised by the other as having met the academic requirements for entry to the practice of engineering. Currently, permanent members of IEA include Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, United Kingdom, United States, Hong Kong, South Africa, Japan, Singapore, China, Korea and Malaysia while provisional members include Germany, Pakistan, India, Russia, Sri Lanka and Turkey.During their six-day long stay, the delegates met with the experts and heads of engineering universities recognised by PEC. They also given lectures on outcome based system of accreditation highly desired for quality assurance of engineering education in Pakistan to bring it at par with international standards.  The delegates also visited Institute of Space Technology, Islamabad and monitored the quality of engineering education being imparted.