Phase II: 2001- 2007

Aga Khan University Institute for Educational Development (AKU-IED) commenced its second phase from June 2001, which was funded by grants from the European Commission (EC), the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), Aga Khan Foundation (AKF), Aga Khan University (AKU) and others.

In addition to its on-going professional development initiatives, AKU-IED also concentrated on developing capacity for institutional research and scholarship by establishing a Research and Policy Studies (RAPS) Unit. The Unit initiated several policy and impact studies, which have shown a positive impact of AKU-IED initiatives on students, teachers, institutions, and education policy. To date, 79 research studies have been conducted by faculty through internal and external funding, which resulted in an average of 10-15 articles, which being published per year in national and international refereed journals. Similarly, 15-20 papers were presented per year by the faculty members at national and international conferences. Senior faculty members were also invited as keynote speakers in these conferences. AKU-IED has also started working with consortia of international universities for research on quality of education, which will further enhance AKU-IED's institutional capacity and research profile. To date, AKU-IED has organised 17 conferences to share research findings with researchers, educators and policy makers. These events provided a platform for academics, practitioners and researchers to share their experiences.

During Phase II, one of the main tasks of AKU-IED was to influence education policy and practice. In this regard, a series of nine policy dialogues were initiated at federal and provincial levels, in which key stakeholders of public and private sectors actively participated. AKU-IED faculty actively participated in the reviews of school and teacher education curricula and national education policy, which was publicly acknowledged by the Higher Education Commission (HEC) and Ministry of Education, Government of Pakistan. AKU-IED also continued building institutional capacity of the public sector schools and teacher education institutions, such as Provincial Institutes of Teacher Education and Elementary Colleges of Education. Contribution was also made in the Education Sub-Committee of the recently formed National Committee of Government Reforms, which was appreciated by the Government.

During this phase, AKU-IED's activities expanded both nationally and internationally with greater emphasis on research and policy studies and generated new and effective ways of improving the quality of education in public and private (not-for-profit) schools. AKU-IED's interventions contributed towards increasing confidence, improving reflective practice, pedagogical and action research skills, and self-assertiveness amongst teachers and others, which has also been found by cooperating schools and other educational institutions as a 'paradigm shift' in their thinking and practice. The graduates of AKU-IED are actively engaged in increasing the 'critical mass' and becoming 'change agents' for managing educational reforms more effectively in their schools and institutions. AKU-IED has several achievements including visibility of AKU-IED's impact, offering a PhD programme, professional networking for educators and researchers, and influencing education policy and practice. These have also been recognised by key stakeholders. As EC mission stated, 'IED is now well established as a national resource for increased educational quality, effectiveness, relevance and outreach' (EC Monitoring Report, 2005, p.2). Furthermore, Professional Development Centres (PDCs) in Northern Areas and Chitral and PDC Lead-in Project in Eastern Africa played a crucial role as 'multiplier effect' in providing access, quality and relevant in-service education programmes for teachers and others to improve the quality of education.