HEC internship policy: what the rules require for your degree
The HEC internship policy makes a supervised internship part of every BS degree in Pakistan. Under the HEC Undergraduate Education Policy, which universities apply from Fall 2023, you need six to eight weeks of field experience, worth 3 credit hours, graded by your faculty and your supervisor at work. This page explains what the policy says, how the older HEC internship guidelines fit in, and what your department will ask you to submit.
We are Ezitech, a software house in Rawalpindi that takes interns from universities across Pakistan. We have kept our own programme to one section near the end, and every rule on this page links to its source so you can check it yourself.
The HEC internship policy in one table
The current document is the HEC Undergraduate Education Policy, version 1.1. HEC asked every university to adopt it through its own statutory bodies and to apply it from Fall 2023. The internship rules sit on page 12 of the policy.
| Point | What the policy says |
|---|---|
| Duration | Six to eight weeks of field experience |
| Timing | Preferably during a semester break or the summer |
| Credit | 3 credit hours, a mandatory degree award requirement |
| Grading | A faculty member, together with the supervisor in the field |
| Who it applies to | All undergraduate and equivalent degree programmes |
| Associate degrees | Only where the accreditation council, the curriculum committee or the university prescribes it |
| Remote work | Not mentioned in the policy text |
In the policy’s own words, the internship is a “mandatory degree award requirement of 3 credit hours”. In practice that means no internship, no degree, whatever your CGPA.
Where the internship sits in your degree
The policy builds a single-major BS degree from at least 120 credit hours: 30 for general education, at least 72 for the major, at least 12 for interdisciplinary courses, 3 for the internship and 3 for the capstone project. A degree with one minor rises to 132 credit hours and one with two minors to 144.
The policy does not say which semester the internship belongs in. It only suggests the capstone come after the fourth semester. Universities fill the gap themselves, which is why one department says “after the fourth semester” and another says “after 90 credit hours”. Our university internship requirements page compares those rules side by side.
The older HEC internship guidelines, and why they still matter
HEC’s website still carries a separate document called the Internship Guidelines. It was written for the 2020 policy, so some of its numbers differ from the current rules. Many departments still borrow its forms and its supervision pattern, so it helps to know what it says.
| Topic | HEC internship guidelines (2020 policy) |
|---|---|
| Length | Nine consecutive weeks for BS, after the fourth semester, usually in summer. At most two roughly equal internships if one is not possible, with reasons. |
| Associate degree | At least 360 hours, with flexible timing and more than one host allowed |
| Credit | Non-credit, with a performance level from 1 to 4 on the transcript |
| Format | Onsite or virtual, paid or unpaid |
| Hosts | Government offices, autonomous bodies, businesses, academic institutions and registered NGOs |
| Approval | The host signs an MoU with the internship office. A student who finds their own placement needs the office’s approval. |
| Supervision | The faculty supervisor meets the student at least twice every three weeks. The site supervisor evaluates every three weeks. |
| Student’s work | A report every three weeks and a weekly activity log |
| Final score | Site supervisor 40%, student reports 30%, faculty supervisor 25%, log 5% |
The guidelines also include sample forms: a site supervisor evaluation with nine criteria on a 1 to 5 scale, a report form and a nine-week log of tasks and hours with three signatures. If your department hands you forms that look like these, that is where they come from. See our internship evaluation form and internship log book format guides for filled examples.
Where the two documents disagree, the current policy and your own university’s handbook take priority. No updated version of the guidelines was published at the time of writing.
Computing and engineering degrees: NCEAC and PEC
Accredited computing and engineering programmes have a second set of rules on top of the HEC internship policy.
- Computing (NCEAC): the 2023 accreditation manual asks for a supervised internship of six to eight consecutive weeks in a professional computing organisation. The university and the host agree a training plan, and the host sends a report on each trainee covering the training given, interest, work habits and punctuality.
- Engineering (PEC): the 2019 accreditation manual sets the same six to eight consecutive weeks, in an engineering practice environment, with a host report and a rubric.
The word that catches students out is consecutive. Two separate three-week stints may not count, so plan one continuous placement.
The 2025 HEC advisory
In September 2025 HEC announced that every undergraduate programme should include a supervised internship of at least 3 credit hours. The advisory encourages universities to partner with companies, SMEs and the public sector, and it promotes online internship platforms and remote work. It does not set a number of weeks, so the six to eight weeks in the policy still frame what departments ask for.
What the HEC internship policy means for you
Read your handbook first, because your university turns the policy into specific rules. Then work through this list.
- Get approval before you start. Most internship offices want to approve the host, and some ask for a letter or NOC from the university.
- Ask the host for an offer letter on its letterhead, with your dates and your supervisor’s name. See the internship offer letter format.
- Keep a weekly log that your site supervisor signs. It is cheap to keep and hard to rebuild later.
- Make sure someone at the host can fill in evaluation forms during the internship, not only at the end.
- Collect a completion certificate with your exact dates and the work you did. Read the internship certificate format to know what a proper one contains.
- Write the report in your department’s format. Our internship report format and weekly report format pages help.
If anyone offers you a certificate without the work, refuse. Universities verify hosts, supervisors and dates, and a certificate that cannot be backed by a log, evaluations and a real supervisor can cost you the degree it was meant to complete.
Where Ezitech fits
Ezitech Software House was founded in 2015, is registered with the Pakistan Software Export Board and holds an NTN with FBR. Our office is at #304-G Amna Plaza, Main Peshawar Road, Rawalpindi. Interns join onsite or remotely for one, two or three months, on live client projects with a named mentor who reviews their work every week.
- You get an offer letter before you start, and a certificate and experience letter at the end, both with a QR code that anyone can check on portal.ezitech.org.
- Every task and daily check-in, with hours, is recorded on the intern portal.
- Your university’s internship office can get its own login to our University Portal. It sees your tasks, check-in hours, evaluations and dates, downloads your offer letter, certificate and a progress report, and can upload its own evaluation or attendance form for us to fill and sign. You do not have to chase anyone. It never sees chats, payments or phone numbers. More on the internship placement for universities page.
Two honest limits. Our internship is fee-based and unpaid, so read the fee and refund policy first. And if your department does not accept fully remote internships, join onsite in Rawalpindi or agree a hybrid pattern with your department before you start. We do not issue certificates without the work, urgent certificates or backdated letters.
Need an internship that meets the HEC rules?
Pick a track on the internship programme page, or apply now. A short interview comes first.
Questions students ask
Is an internship mandatory under the HEC policy?
Yes. The HEC Undergraduate Education Policy V1.1 makes a field experience or internship a requirement for the award of every undergraduate or equivalent degree, from Fall 2023 intakes onwards. Associate degrees are the exception: there it applies only where the accreditation council, the curriculum committee or the university prescribes it.
How many credit hours is an internship under HEC?
Three credit hours. They count inside the minimum of 120 credit hours for a single-major BS degree, next to 3 credit hours for the capstone project.
How long should an internship be according to HEC?
Six to eight weeks under the current policy, preferably in a semester or summer break. The older HEC internship guidelines, written for the 2020 policy, ask for nine consecutive weeks. Your department’s handbook decides which applies to you.
Can I do an online internship for the HEC requirement?
The policy text does not say either way, and the older HEC guidelines accept virtual internships. Universities differ: some accept remote work with prior approval, while others, such as CUST for computer science, PU-IAS and NED, do not accept a fully online internship. Ask your internship office before you start.
In which semester should I do my internship?
The current policy does not fix a semester. Most universities expect it after the fourth semester, usually in the summer. Some set their own conditions, such as a minimum CGPA or a number of completed credit hours.
Who grades the internship under the HEC policy?
A faculty member grades it together with your supervisor at the host organisation. That is why the site supervisor’s evaluation form, your weekly log and your report carry so much weight.