In the past two decades, the Government of Pakistan has significantly invested in higher education (HE) to bring structural reforms in funding, governance, and quality assurance mechanisms. Their overarching mission has been to fuel national socioeconomic development by ensuring equal access to HE. Given this, the present study aimed to address…

Purpose: In today's world, empowering individuals, promoting social cohesion and advancing economic development all hinge on access to high-quality education, prioritizing diversity, inclusion and equality. Rethinking current educational strategies using cyber-physical learning assets is necessary to accommodate the learning inclusivity and equity…

Coronavirus pandemic has changed the existing norms of life all over the world. Among other areas of life, the pandemic has also hit the education sector, where recent statistics show that around 500 Million students worldwide were unable to access remote learning. In developing countries like Pakistan, which is amongst the top-twenty countries…

This article draws from narratives of 14 slum dwellers of Christian Colony, Islamabad, Pakistan, to explore their struggle through a web of barriers and enablers to participate in higher education. Using the qualitative approach, primary data was collected through in-depth interviews. The respondents were mostly from the families where males…

Investments in girls' education in developing countries support U.S. foreign policy, demonstrate U.S. compassion and generosity, drive development efforts, and help reduce extreme poverty. The US Agency for International Development's (USAID's) programming takes into account the gender-related constraints that prevent access of both boys and girls…

Education is a social entity and takes input from the society and returns output to it as well. University education is considered as the hub that produces human capital into the market. Universities shall play their role to promote social justice and equity for people from all spheres of the society. This study was focused to explore the…

Equity refers to fairness in education, which represents all irrespective of any differences with the goal of access, participation and progression in education. The study, thus, analyzed students' equity in terms of access, participation and outcomes at higher education. The data had been collected from 641 students enrolled in three public…

Countries that have sustained rapid growth over decades have typically had a strong public commitment to expanding education as well as to improving learning outcomes. South Asian countries have made considerable progress in expanding access to primary and secondary schooling, with countries having achieved near-universal enrollment of the…

"The Wiley International Handbook of Educational Foundations" features international scholars uniquely qualified to examine issues specific to their regions of the world. The Handbook provides readers with an alternative to the traditional texts in the foundations of education by taking aim at the status quo, and by offering frameworks…

This study aims at examining the role of e-learning in combating the issues of inequality in terms of access and quality in the field of higher education in Pakistan. The education system in Pakistan is mainly characterized by educational disparity. The standard of education is directly proportional to the investment students make in the form of…

This paper explores teacher governance factors, particularly recruitment and deployment of teachers, in relation to inequalities and social cohesion. Pakistan introduced major reforms in education in the post 9/11 context of escalating conflict. These include a merit and needs-based policy on teacher recruitment to eliminate corruption in…

This paper summarises the findings of a 2005 doctoral study by Malik which explored to what extent participation in higher education offers empowerment to women in Pakistan. A survey instrument was used to question female faculty members and female students from 10 public universities in Pakistan; 1290 students and 290 faculty members responded.…

The present paper investigated the role of distance education in the expansion of educational facilities for females at higher levels of education in Pakistan. The findings of the study report that distance education is playing a vital role in the expansion of female education at higher level as such females who, due to some personal or social…

This paper is based on the findings of a 3-year, qualitative study funded by the Research Consortium on Educational Outcomes for Poverty. It uses Sen's [1985. "Well-being agency and freedom." "Journal of Philosophy" 82, no. 4: 169-221] capability approach and Bourdieu's [1991. "Language and symbolic power." Cambridge,…

Distance education means instruction in which the instructor and student are separated by distance and interact through the assistance of communication technology. Distance education changes the learning relationship from the common, centralized school model to a more decentralized, flexible model. It also reverses social dynamics by bringing…