Investigation into Rural-Urban Gap in Readiness of Universities for Online Teaching: A Case of Pakistan

Authors

  • Tayyaba Tamim Syed Ahsan Ali and Syed Maratib Ali School of Education, Lahore University of Management Sciences, Lahore, Pakistan https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7418-5023
  • Zubair Khalid Syed Babar Ali School of Science and Engineering, Lahore University of Management Sciences, Lahore, Pakistan https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7875-4687
  • Mishaal Ahmad Syed Ahsan Ali and Syed Maratib Ali School of Education, Lahore University of Management Sciences, Lahore, Pakistan
  • Muhammad Raza Higher Education Commission, Islamabad, Pakistan
  • Pir Qasim Shah Higher Education Commission, Islamabad, Pakistan

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.54536/ajet.v4i1.3446

Keywords:

Faculty Readiness, Higher Education Online Readiness, Online Policy Implementation, Rural vs Urban Comparison, Students’ Readiness

Abstract

Higher education institutions worldwide faced significant disruption and chaos as COVID-19 swept away the normal in 2020, catapulting them into online mode of instruction with hardly any transitional time. It can be argued that the challenge was particularly daunting for universities in developing country contexts of South Asia, like Pakistan, with limited resources and a large student body coming from socioeconomically disadvantaged backgrounds. While research evidence piled up around the world about different challenges that specific universities faced within or across countries, there has been little systematic work done to explore the comparative challenges faced by universities in urban (large metropolitan) and rural (smaller/semi-urban /cities) in a single country context. This paper presents the findings of a large-scale survey sent to all the universities in Pakistan during COVID to understand the intra-country variation that one needs to keep in mind as we prepare for online instruction to meet similar challenges in the future. A quantitative survey was sent to 196 universities in Pakistan. The survey had questions under the following categories, namely: university readiness, faculty readiness, student readiness, technology readiness and laboratory readiness. The results presented here are from 170 universities. The results reveal that urban universities were much more successful in their transition to online instruction than rural universities. The disparities were across: a) the extent of online policy adoption; b) infrastructure and support; c) operationalization of online teaching processes; and d) student and faculty readiness for online instruction. The study in the developing country context of the global South contributes to the relevant literature by providing insights into the unique challenges faced by universities because of their location.

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Author Biographies

Tayyaba Tamim, Syed Ahsan Ali and Syed Maratib Ali School of Education, Lahore University of Management Sciences, Lahore, Pakistan

Dr. Tayyaba Tamim is currently Dean School of Education, Lahore University of Management Sciences. She is also the faculty lead for Pedagogical Partnership Programme at the LUMS Learning Institute. Dr. Tamim has her PhD from the University of Cambridge as a fully funded RECOUP scholar and MPhil RSLE (Research in Second Language Education Across Cultures) from Cambridge, UK as a British Council Chevenning scholar. In addition, she also has an MA ELT from Kinnaird College for Women University and MA English from the University of Punjab, Pakistan. Dr Tamim has led several funded research projects with national and international partners, including those with USAID, British council and the World Bank. She has also published and presented research papers at a number of national and international forums. Her work covers issues of social justice, equity and inclusivity in education with specific reference to languages in education, language policy, gender and caste. At LUMS she teaches Education for Social Justice; Inclusive Education and Interdisciplinary Theoretical Perspectives to Education at graduate and undergraduate level. She is also a resource person for HEC and PHEC, offering in-service and pre-service training to university/ college faculty.

Zubair Khalid, Syed Babar Ali School of Science and Engineering, Lahore University of Management Sciences, Lahore, Pakistan

I received my B.Sc. (First-class Hons.) degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Engineering & Technology (UET), Lahore, Pakistan in 2008. I received the Ph.D. degree in Engineering from the Australian National University of Canberra, Australia in Aug. 2013. Previously, I was working as an Assistant Professor in the Electrical Engineering Department, UET Lahore. Prior to that, I worked as a Research Fellow (Postdoc) with Prof. Rodney A. Kennedy in the Research School of Engineering, Australian National University (ANU), Canberra, Australia. I was awarded University Gold Medal and Industry Gold Medals from Siemens and Nespak for overall outstanding performance in Electrical Engineering during the undergraduate studies. I was a recipient of an Endeavour International Postgraduate Award for my Ph.D. studies.

Research Interests
  • Signal analysis on the sphere
  • Spatio-spectral signal processing
  • Development of computationally efficient algorithms
  • Spherical signal processing applications in Acoustics, Medical Imaging, Cosmology
  • Connectivity of ad-hoc networks

My research is focused on the development of new signal processing techniques to analyse signals defined on the sphere. Analysis and processing of signals defined on the sphere find applications in various fields of science and engineering, such as cosmology, geophysics, acoustics and medical imaging. I served the objective to develop new signal processing methods and propose novel methods for signal analysis on the sphere. Recently, I have also developed interests in the investigation of connectivity properties of wireless networks deployed over a finite area. In this direction, I have carried out the connectivity analysis for the network of nodes distributed inside regular convex polygons using stochastic geometry.

Dr. Zubair Khalid is currently teaching courses in Department of Electrical Engineering and will also teach courses in MS Artificial Intelligence.

Mishaal Ahmad, Syed Ahsan Ali and Syed Maratib Ali School of Education, Lahore University of Management Sciences, Lahore, Pakistan

eing a computer science graduate who later pursued Mphil in educational leadership and management, I believe that I possess an amalgamation of skills including but not limited to technological research and pedagogical design which is imperative for modern day problems. My computational skill set from my degree in computer science; such as SQL, Python, Databases and stata etc allow me to understand the methodology to design applications for educational technology and my research experience via the Mphil educational leadership program equips me with the ability to conduct qualitative and quantitative research thereby qualifying to write meta analysis, literature reviews and design complete rearch based problems with a targetted research question. Moreover, I possess the knowledge for both programming languages and computational skills along with excellent writing and research skills which are essential for the process of writing high quality excerpts for research papers. Lastly, my creative, leadership and analytical abilities coupled with my excellent interpersonal and communication skills make me an ideal choice for a productive team.

Muhammad Raza, Higher Education Commission, Islamabad, Pakistan

Muhammad Raza is the Deputy Director at the Quality Assurance Agency (QAA) in HEC Islamabad, Pakistan

Pir Qasim Shah, Higher Education Commission, Islamabad, Pakistan

Pir Qasim Shah is Assistant Director (Quality Assurance) at the Quality Assurance Agency,Higher Education Commission, Government of Pakistan H-9 Islamabad.

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Published

2025-02-19

How to Cite

Tamim, T., Khalid, Z., Ahmad, M., Chohan, M., & Shah, P. Q. (2025). Investigation into Rural-Urban Gap in Readiness of Universities for Online Teaching: A Case of Pakistan. American Journal of Education and Technology, 4(1), 118–130. https://doi.org/10.54536/ajet.v4i1.3446

Issue

Vol. 4 No. 1 (2025): American Journal of Education and Technology

Section

Research Articles

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Copyright (c) 2025 Tayyaba Tamim, Zubair Khalid, Mishaal Ahmad, Muhammad Raza, Pir Qasim Shah

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