Aga Khan University Institute for Educational Development (AKU-IED) works for the development of educational systems in the developing countries, particularly Pakistan . Its major focus is on improving the performance of teachers, teacher educators and education managers belonging to public and private sectors, through professional development initiatives leading to overall school improvement.

Established in July 1993, AKU-IED is located in a purpose-built Professional Development Centre (PDC) in Karachi . The PDC functions as a training and support facility to channel expertise and exchange of ideas amongst professional teachers, teacher educators and education managers.

AKU-IED offers a number of professional development programmes for teachers and others that are grouped as graduate programmes and professional development programmes .

The Graduate programmes include:

PhD programme : This is a four-year, full-time programme that aims to develop high quality educational researchers who will be able to undertake a range of responsibilities and leadership roles in research and development.

MEd programme (MEd): This two-year programme focuses on teacher education and aims at producing graduates who are exemplary and effective teachers and teacher educators.

The professional programmes offered by AKU-IED include:

• Advanced Diploma in Education: Curriculum Areas (1 year field-based)
• Advanced Diploma in Education: Educational Leadership and Management (1 year)
• Certificate in Education: Curriculum Areas, like Mathematics, Science, Social Studies, English and others (8 weeks)
• Certificate in Education: Environmental Education, Citizenship Education, information and Communication Technology, Histories and Cultures of Muslim societies, and others
• Certificate in Education: Educational Leadership and Management (10 weeks)
• Certificate in Education through Open and Distance Learning 

These programmes have been planned and implemented with assistance from AKU-IED's Partner Universities - Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto, Canada and the Department of Education Studies, University of Oxford, UK . The Institute offers its programmes with support from a number of co-operating schools and partner institutions (Aga Khan Education Services, NGOs and CBOs, and some public educational institutes).

A Research and Policy Studies (RAPS) Unit has been established in order to strengthen the Institute's role as a significant national and international research institution. RAPS aims to promote high quality research and policy analysis capacity and to create opportunities for dialogues and deliberations regarding educational issues.

AKU-IED has also been engaged extensively in building capacity of the government sector in Pakistan . The federal and provincial governments in Pakistan have been particularly encouraging AKU-IED's various initiatives to improve teaching practices at the grass-root level, organizing policy discussions, and conducting research.

Faculty development is considered crucial to future activities of AKU-IED. By the end of 2006, 19 faculty members have completed their doctoral studies, mostly from partner universities. National faculty members are encouraged to take lead roles through participation in various AKU-IED and university-wide academic and planning committees, participate in joint programmes and research with faculty of Partner Universities, and participate in national and international conferences to disseminate knowledge.

Additional significant initiatives of AKU-IED are its Outreach activities. Some of the initiatives have been the development of a network of Professional Development Centres in Karachi, Chitral, Northern Areas and Eastern Africa, and a Professional Teacher Association Network.