In a recent visit to Pakistan, Professor Peter Scott, President and CEO of the Commonwealth of Learning (COL), met with implementing partners Bedari and SPARC on the Empowering Women and Girls (EWG) project. With funding from Global Affairs Canada (GAC), COL initiated the three-year project in 2023 to improve the realisation of human rights for women and girls from disadvantaged communities in selected areas of five Commonwealth member states, including Pakistan.

The 2024 Asian Association of Open Universities (AAOU) Annual Conference was held at Allama Iqbal Open University (AIOU) in Islamabad from 15-17 October 2024. The event’s theme was “Expanding Horizons: Innovation in Open and Distance Learning.” Professor Scott delivered the opening keynote address, ‘On Being More Open’, at the conference and attended the remaining sessions, which included many presentations on excellence and pedagogy for AIOU’s development and innovation.

Professor Scott was a guest at the Higher Education Commission (HEC) with AIOU’s Director of Academic Planning and Course Production, Dr Zahid Majeed and Professor Dr Nasir Mahmood, AIOU Vice Chancellor, to address the need for higher education development. COL’s President also discussed Pakistan’s increased engagement with COL and the wider Commonwealth with the HEC team.

Professor Scott later met with the Federal Secretary of the Pakistan Ministry of Federal Education and Professional Training, Mr Mohyuddin Ahmad Wani, and was shown a selection of Pakistan’s educational reform initiatives in the context of the Islamabad College for Girls F-6/2 illustrating how Pakistan is working to bridge the gap between government and private education standards.

Overall, the President’s visit to Pakistan touched on several key themes for COL, including the critical opportunities that NGO partners can provide for supporting non-formal pathways for women and girls to succeed directly in their communities and for some to come back into formal learning via Pakistan’s open schooling. He explained that higher education operations such as AIOU and the Virtual University of Pakistan are creating excellent access to bridge tertiary education for disadvantaged learners in Pakistan and, hence, accelerating standards and quality.