Oxford, 21 May, 2026 –
On Thursday, the Department of Education at the University of Oxford hosted a roundtable policy dialogue to highlight language and student learning outcomes policy in Pakistan. The session was organised and led by Dr Aliya Khalid, Senior Departmental Lecturer and Course Director for the MSc in Comparative and International Education and Dr Ann Childs, Associate Professor of Science Education. The roundtable brought together government officials from Pakistan, senior officials from the British Council and FCDO, academics from Pakistan, and academics from the University of Oxford to discuss the role of policy implementation in supporting learner and education outcomes. In fostering a collaborative and international dialogue, the session offered individuals a chance to reflect on policy in Pakistan as well as to explore opportunities to strengthen collaboration and coherence across contexts.
The event was formally opened by Dr Leon Feinstein, Director for the Department of Education. In the opening remarks he emphasised the need to “make great progress in trying to get better alignment between policy and research.” Dr Aliya Khalid then emphasised that while it’s not a simple process to intertwine policy and research, the panels in today’s dialogue “demonstrate that research projects can actually lead to policy action.” Ms Mumtaz Zahra Baloch, Pakistan’s Ambassador to France and permanent delegate to UNESCO, spoke briefly about the challenges that education in Pakistan faces and the necessity to streamline and coherently present these challenges.
The day was divided into two sessions, each revolving around a research project undertaken by the University of Oxford in collaboration with a Pakistani partner organisation. The morning focused on Durbeen Pakistan, an NGO committed to improving public schooling in Pakistan, and the University of Oxford discussing their research on Language in education policy where they highlighted the need for Pakistan to embrace its linguistic diversity as a strength. In the afternoon, the Institute of Education Research, Peshawar University and the University of Oxford presented insights from their work on the student learning outcomes policy shift in Pakistan. Both dialogues combined perspectives from researchers and policymakers to illuminate the importance of policy experiences across contexts.
The day-long event impressed upon the significance of collaboration across continents and contexts along with creating a space where stakeholders could come together to reaffirm their commitment to policy change in Pakistan. The dialogue concluded with a discussion on concrete actions that would follow from the roundtable and an acknowledgement of the rich exchanges that exist between knowledge, ideas, and implementation. Dr Velda Elliott, Director for Graduate Studies at the department, ended the forum by saying that it was “a real honour for our department to host this event.”
