Anjum Halai

Dr. Anjum Halai brings extensive and deep‑rooted experience in the higher education sector in Pakistan and internationally. She holds a doctoral degree from Oxford University, UK, and a master’s degree from the Aga Khan University, Pakistan. She has served as a research fellow at the University of Sussex, UK, and as an adjunct professor at the University of Alberta, Canada. Dr. Halai is an elected Fellow of the prestigious World Academy of Arts and Sciences and has also served as an elected Vice President of the influential International Commission of Mathematical Instruction. Her research and education programmes are highly acclaimed and widely used in educational initiatives, especially for women and girls in remote communities such as Northern Pakistan and interior Sindh. She has published several books and over a hundred scholarly papers in esteemed international journals. Her books are housed in more than 1,000 libraries globally (Source: OCLC WorldCat). Her most recent publication, Teaching and Teacher Education in Pakistan: Historical and Contemporary Perspectives, serves as an important reference text in higher education programmes in Education. She has taught and supervised a large number of students who now hold significant leadership positions in education systems in Pakistan and abroad, thereby extending the economic and social impact of her work. Dr. Halai has demonstrated strong leadership in building higher education institutions. She has served on the steering committee of the highly impactful Higher Education Development Project of the Higher Education Commission (HEC), supporting key interventions to improve the quality of higher education in Pakistan. She also sits on the National Accreditation Council for Teacher Education, the highest national body for teacher education in Pakistan. Professor Halai is an active member of the global education community. She regularly delivers invited keynote lectures and seminars at international forums and is a member of several high‑profile international professional bodies, including the Comparative and International Education Society, the American Educational Research Association, and the Taskforce on Inclusion and Equity in the Commonwealth Association of Universities. She currently serves as Vice Provost at the Aga Khan University (AKU) in Pakistan. As the founding dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at AKU, she played a critical role in developing cutting‑edge curricula for the undergraduate programme. Most recently, she developed AKU LEADS, an innovative online/hybrid micro‑credentials programme designed to provide multiple learning pathways for underserved communities and to support the re‑skilling and up‑skilling of early‑career professionals.