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April 12, 2025
Fall of an education giant
Actions of ICE are sweeping and have targeted not only int'l students holding visas but also green card holders
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March 21, 2025
Education Reformer Cookbook
Reports suggest that entire GBP190 million is to be spent on this single project
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March 01, 2025
A most predictable coup
Shift in university priorities to simple publication metrics developed a culture of junk publications
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January 31, 2025
Right (wo)man for the job
Few university leaders are dynamic enough to develop plan to generate additional revenue for their institutions
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January 04, 2025
Customised classes for the elite
Automation enables mass production of goods to achieve greater efficiencies and allows pricing them within purchasing power of more consumers
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December 18, 2024
The curious case of madrassa regulation
Distancing madrassas from the education sector could jeopardise this path for millions of madrassa students
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November 23, 2024
The new higher-ed reality
For last eight years, HEC's budget has been virtually stagnant in absolute terms
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October 31, 2024
Zen and the art of reading
Statista Market Insights put Pakistan’s total book sales at a paltry $60 million
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October 18, 2024
The spectrum of violence
Students, progressive groups – let’s call them the ‘Toothless’ – are usually at receiving end
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October 15, 2024
How to raise fact-checkers — learning from Finland
If they had, his reasoning went, someone would have seen them by now
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September 28, 2024
A day at the cat cafe
In one university , the statutory positions of controller, registrar, and treasurer have not been filled since November 2022
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September 21, 2024
A critical mass of talent
If mass of material is below this threshold , reaction will not be self-sustaining and fizzle out
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September 03, 2024
The university camel race
Six universities in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa are operating without any VC at all
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August 21, 2024
The great tuition debate
Public schools are inexpensive in relative, and arguably absolute, terms
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August 02, 2024
When education meets land grab
A representational image showing the building of Bacha Khan Medical College in Mardan. — BKMC/Facebook/FileImagine this: A bully enters a man’s...
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July 19, 2024
Med to math: PEC’s misguided curveball
Decision was disseminated via letter to VCs, rectors, and heads of all higher education institutions in Pakistan
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July 10, 2024
Got taxes? Post-budget survival guide
We have known for decades that there is a need to broaden the base of taxpayers in the country
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July 01, 2024
Telco to tech: the shift in education’
For as long as I can remember, among engineering disciplines, electrical engineering has been the top choice
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June 20, 2024
Pakistan and the skills report
2024 Global Skills Report report places Pakistan at 84 out of larger cohort of 109 countries in global skills proficiency rankings
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June 06, 2024
Universities and the financial tightrope
SIFC announced that federal government would now require provinces to match federal contributions to higher education
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May 20, 2024
Welcome to the summer of AI
April saw the release of Meta’s Llama 3 generative large language model, notable for being open-source
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May 03, 2024
A divisive frame of mind
The National Electric Power Regulatory Authority headquarters can be seen in this picture released on November 4, 2021. — Facebook/NEPRAWould you...
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April 18, 2024
Daanish dilemma: beyond the fold
Today, a total of 11,000 children are attending Daanish schools in Punjab
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April 08, 2024
The pursuit of uniformity
Metropabad was a sought-after place to live, which is why NUT – a public university – was fortunate to attract some of the most qualified...
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March 29, 2024
Defunding of public higher education
Since 2017, the number of public universities has grown by 53 per cent
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March 18, 2024
New data, old insights
Learning achievement in Urdu, Sindhi, and Math at 5th grade level in most provinces and districts has gone down in the 2023 survey
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March 01, 2024
The AI frontier at WGS
I hope and pray that AI revolution does not become latest one in which we are relegated to end users of other people’s labour
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February 07, 2024
Parachuted manifestos
I reviewed manifestos of three major parties – PML-N, PPP, and PTI – that have held power at some points in past
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January 31, 2024
The land where time stands still
Escalating situation by responding with physical violence and inviting violence in turn
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January 18, 2024
Why are Pakistanis leaving?
I put down some of my thoughts on issue last year in an op-ed in these pages Are Pakistanis really leaving September 8, 2023
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December 30, 2023
The rising cost of higher education
How, you may wonder, are changes in household spending in the US relevant to us here in Pakistan?
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December 23, 2023
The fierce politics of Pakistan’s academia
Sayre’s law, named for Columbia University political scientist Wallace Stanley Sayre, states that “The politics of the university are so intense...
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December 01, 2023
What ails public-sector education?
I asked 12 year-old Sultan to read from his Urdu textbook. He struggled to read a simple sentence . While he eventually read the sentence, he could...
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November 11, 2023
So you want to start working?
The image shows a workplace in the US. — AFP FileA few months ago, these pages carried an op-ed of mine that attempted to provide some insights...
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October 29, 2023
We don’t need thought control
A picture taken from Israel's southern city of Sderot shows rockets fired from Gaza towards Israel on October 28, 2023. — AFPSince Israel began...
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October 19, 2023
Can you build your own major?
A person can be seen making hand gestures while speaking in a professional setting. — Unsplash/FileWhen you become aware of a problem, you can...
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October 02, 2023
Education and other non-priorities
Around the world, universities have multiple goals. Core among them remains teaching in degree programmes to pass on knowledge, make young adults...
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September 20, 2023
Welcome to college – and adulthood
Fall, the time when millions of students all over the world – including Pakistan – will start their college journeys, is upon us. Many will be...
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September 08, 2023
Are Pakistanis really leaving?
A few weeks ago, the caretaker prime minister’s soundbite about educated Pakistanis who choose to settle abroad attracted public ire.Coming so...
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August 28, 2023
CIE conundrum: the sequel
A few weeks ago, A-level students in Pakistan and the region received their grades for the May/June 2023 exam session. The results came as a shock...
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August 21, 2023
Leading without a plan
Public universities are facing multiple challenges that we keep hearing about, ranging in nature from academic, administrative, managerial,...
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August 10, 2023
How the [HEI] sausage is made
At the beginning of this year, I contributed an op-ed about how in its waning days, members of the Punjab Assembly went on a university charter...
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August 01, 2023
Unchecked power in a university
What happens when you put a man in charge of a university, grant him virtually unchecked power over staff and faculty who in turn have unchecked...
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July 24, 2023
Internationalizing a university
I recently had the opportunity to visit Incheon in South Korea’s greater Seoul area. I spent time at the Incheon Global Campus, a global education...
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July 13, 2023
Pakistan’s skills report card
The vast majority of 240-odd universities in the country are failing both of their missions: the idealistic goal of learning for learning’s sake,...
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July 05, 2023
What should VCs be worried about?
Today’s university vice-chancellors are facing a number of challenges. The number one challenge by far that universities are grappling with,...
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June 21, 2023
All hail the SNC
I was on a road trip to the northern areas with friends. We were at a rest stop, our black off-road utility vehicle parked on the side of the road,...
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June 12, 2023
Dreams of disruption
Some people like superhero movies while others prefer horror movies. My favourite category of movies are tales of founders of companies that built...
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May 27, 2023
The admissions game
International applicants to post-graduate programmes at universities in developed countries have long understood that having even a single...
