The Higher Education Commission (HEC) and the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) have signed a three-year Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to introduce electoral education into university curricula and strengthen voter awareness among young people across Pakistan.
The agreement marks a new institutional focus on connecting higher education with civic and electoral literacy. Under the partnership, electoral education will be integrated into undergraduate university programmes, giving students greater exposure to the electoral process, voting rights and civic responsibilities.
The MoU was signed by HEC Executive Director Prof Dr Zia Ul Haq and ECP Secretary Omar Hamid Khan at a ceremony chaired by the Acting Chief Election Commissioner and attended by senior officials from both institutions. The partnership is designed to operate for three years and may be extended by mutual agreement.
A key component of the initiative will be the launch of joint Youth Ambassador programmes aimed at encouraging students to engage with civic affairs and develop a better understanding of electoral processes. HEC and ECP will also organise awareness sessions, educational activities and campaigns at higher education institutions across the country.
Under the arrangement, HEC will facilitate coordination with universities and higher education institutions, while ECP will provide relevant resources, technical support and educational material for electoral awareness initiatives.
The collaboration builds on ECP’s broader strategic emphasis on voter education and public outreach. Its Strategic Plan 2025–29 identifies collaboration with HEC and education boards to integrate voter education into academic curricula as one of its planned measures for improving public understanding of voting rights.
The initiative also comes as HEC continues to use curriculum development and undergraduate education as mechanisms for addressing wider societal and national needs. HEC’s Undergraduate Education Policy states that undergraduate education should contribute to students’ intellectual and personal development while fostering critical thinking and skills relevant to society.
HEC has also been undertaking regular revisions of university curricula through National Curriculum Revision Committees, with recent revisions covering disciplines including Political Science, Pakistan Studies, Sociology, History, Media and Communication Studies and International Relations.
For universities, the HEC-ECP partnership could provide a structured framework for introducing electoral literacy through academic programmes as well as extracurricular activities. Rather than limiting voter awareness to election-period campaigns, the collaboration seeks to expose students to electoral education within the broader higher education environment.
Related: HEC Hosts Top Turkish Higher Education Leaders in Islamabad
The three-year partnership is ultimately intended to equip young people with greater knowledge of the electoral system and encourage informed civic participation. With universities serving as the primary platform for implementation, the initiative places higher education institutions at the centre of a nationwide effort to strengthen electoral awareness among Pakistan’s youth.
