Higher Education in Asian Context - A Study of Students’ Attitude towards Higher Education in Pakistani Universities

Oct 15, 2026

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Higher Education Commission (HEC) in Pakistan, established in 2002, introduced numerous interventions and inputs that shaped higher education. While studies examined improvements from HEC initiatives, limited work explored how HEC inputs affected students’ attitudes. This study examined attitudes of teacher education students in four Pakistani public universities using a Students’ Attitude Scale and independent sample t-tests across genders, finding no male-female differences and emphasizing context-specific positive attitude formation.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages9

Reading Time23 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

Higher education aims and policy context in Pakistan

Role of HEC and higher education in economic development

Study rationale and background

Higher Education in Asian Context: A Study of Students’ Attitude towards Higher Education in Pakistani Universities Muhammad Afzal * and Muhammad Rashid** Abstract Higher Education Commission (HEC) in Pakistan was established in 2002. Since its establishment, HEC has introduced many interventions and inputs in higher education and emerged a major initiative in Pakistan. Many studies about HEC initiatives were undertaken to explore improvements made by HEC interventions. No study was done to explore impact of HEC inputs on students’attitude. This study was an attempt to explore the attitudes of students towards higher education in changed context in public universities of Pakistan. The sample of the study was the students enrolled in teacher education programs in different public universities of Pakistan. Four universities were conveniently selected including Institute of Education and Research (IER), University of the Punjab, the pioneer institute in teacher education. Self-reporting method was adopted to facilitate the respondents to reflect their attitudes regarding higher education. An instrument named “Students’Attitude Scale” was administered by the author. The purpose of the study was to explore impact of different factors on students’ attitudes towards higher education, impact of program inputs on students’ attitudes towards higher education and find out the difference between the attitudes of male and female students towards higher education. Independent sample t-test was applied to find out the difference between male and female responses. This test indicates that there is no difference in attitudes towards higher education between male and female students of different universities. The results of the study suggest how different inputs and contexts makes positive attitudes towards higher education in different universities. The findings of the study have implications for teacher educatorsand curriculum developers how to enhance attitudes towards higher education by providing appropriate inputs. This study also has implications for policy makers at HEC and university administration to plan need based inputs to make conducive environment for shaping students’positive attitudes towards higher education. Keywords: Higher education, students’ attitude, institution. * Senior Tutor Birmingham Adult Education Service (BAES)Birmingham, UK E-mail: [ebtrainer@gmail.com](ebtrainer@gmail.com) ** Dean, Faculty of Education, Preston University, Islamabad. Email: [drrashid46@yahoo.com](drrashid46@yahoo.com) Introduction The aims purposes and outcomes of the higher education has always remained under debate. Back from time when universities were emerging, it was believed that higher education prepares the people who fulfil needs of a society with their own cognitive growth. Higher education has direct link with demand of labour market and ultimately to the development of the country, many reports like report on higher education (1963), UGC report (1984) and other reports also agreed and argued the link between higher education and economic growth. The popular Committee of Enquiry into Higher Education, Dearing, (1997) highlights the importance of higher education as, “the new economic order will place an increasing premium on knowledge which in turn makes national economics more dependent on higher education’s development of people with high level skills, knowledge and understanding and on its contribution to research.” Tepperman and Blain (1999, p.671) stated four reasons for poorer investment into higher education,“one is cost of higher education; another, the decline financial return on these cost, third, the low return in job satisfaction and finally, a low return in the form of upward social mobility.” They also pointed out that the higher education is a long term investment but not rewarded in the same way as invested. Sometimes the people entered in a profession without higher education and get more as com

FAQs

What problem does the study address about HEC efforts?

The study targets the gap that previous research explored HEC initiatives’ improvements but did not examine the impact of HEC inputs on students’ attitudes.

How was students’ attitude measured and analyzed?

A Students’ Attitude Scale was administered using a self-reporting method. Independent sample t-test was then used to examine differences in responses between male and female students.

What did the study find regarding gender differences?

The results indicate no difference in attitudes toward higher education between male and female students across the different universities.

Oct 15, 2026

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