Pakistan passed at diplomacy, let’s get the degrees rolling now

Pakistan’s prominence in global diplomacy has risen in recent months as a result of the role the country has played in brokering negotiations between the USA, Iran and the Gulf countries. Inevitably, however, this will lead to questions about the ways in which its leaders are seeking to translate this recognition in a manner that supports people in the country as well as the wider region. A clear area in which Pakistan can leverage its current global standing is the higher education sector. The stakes are considerable. Pakistan has one of the world’s largest youth populations, and demand for higher education is rising. Recent analysis by QAA (2025) notes that Pakistan has over 250 million people, around a third of whom are under 14, with university enrolment growing by more than 50 per cent over a decade. UK transnational higher education provision in Pakistan also grew from around 7,985 students in 2019–20 to 13,575 in 2022–23. Transnational higher education refers to the arrangement in which a university delivers its degree in Pakistan, through either a branch campus, long-distance or online learning, or franchised programmes through a local university. Pakistan is home to excellent universities and research institutes in both the public and private sectors. There are more than 260 universities and degree-awarding institutions, so the question is not whether Pakistan has a higher education base, but how that base can be connected more strategically to regional mobility, research collaboration and employment. Research excellence in Pakistan exists in fields ranging from the social sciences and humanities to the sciences, healthcare and medicine. At the same time, new legislation introduced by the country’s Higher Education Commission and the provincial government of Punjab is developing policies that aim to encourage deeper engagement by international universities in the country. This is happening alongside Pakistan’s revised transnational education policy, updated