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HEC Scholarships 2025–2026: Navigating Graduate & Postgraduate Success!
No full textThe Career Development Center (CDC) hosted an insightful webinar in collaboration with HEC Pakistan on “HEC Scholarships 2025–2026: Navigating Graduate & Postgraduate Success.”
Speaker: Ms. Dur-e-Shahwar – Director, Human Resource Development Division
Key Takeaways:
✅ Overview of scholarship opportunities under HEC
✅ Guidance on Commonwealth Scholarship applications
✅ HAT requirements and eligibility criteria
✅ Post-award benefits and available resources
This session provided students with essential guidance to plan their higher education journey and maximize scholarship opportunities
Gender Inequality, Marital Gender Norms and Maternal Health Care Utilization in Pakistan
No full textThis study explores the impact of gender inequality and marital gender norms on maternal healthcare utilization in Pakistan, a predominantly patriarchal society where women often lack decision-making power. Using data from the Pakistan Demographic and Health Survey (PDHS) with a sample size of 16,240 women aged 15-49 who have experienced a live birth in the past five years, this research applies exploratory data analysis and regression techniques. The study assesses gender inequality at the individual, household, and community levels, focusing on women’s decision-making authority in mobility, healthcare, and household expenditures. It is hypothesized that gender norms significantly influence maternal healthcare utilization, with stronger associations expected for key indicators such as antenatal care visits and skilled birth attendance. The findings aim to provide valuable insights into how gender norms shape healthcare choices for women in Pakistan, offering implications for improving maternal health outcomes in the region
Water Security and Trade Nexus: Economic and Environmental Trade-offs in Pakistan’s Pursuit of Edible Oil Self-sufficiency
No full textPakistan produces only 12-13% of its edible oil requirements and relies heavily on imports, with palm oil comprising nearly 90% of the total. A 1994 study by the National Agricultural Research Centre (NARC) suggested the potential for domestic oil palm cultivation in Sindh; however, the urgency to reassess this potential in coastal Sindh has grown considerably due to the widening trade deficit, increasing water scarcity, and climate change. This study assesses whether domestic oil palm cultivation could make economic, social, and environmental sense, and if Pakistan has any comparative advantage in terms of domestic production and substituting its traditional coastal cash crops with the cultivation of oil palms. A weighted overlay method, incorporating climate, soil, and land use data, was used to generate the updated oil palm suitability map, which was further analysed in conjunction with economic and environmental data to inform policy recommendations. Results reveal that out of a total of 3.2 million hectares of land, some 1.08 million hectares fall within the oil palm cultivation suitability range of 60-80%. This represents a 92.86% increase from the 0.56 million hectares identified in the 1994 NARC study, attributable possibly to improved irrigation access and potentially to climatic changes. Economically, oil palm cultivation on total suitable land could yield an estimated 2.83 million metric tons of palm oil annually, valued at USD 2.5 billion, with maximum water use estimated at 13.01 km³ per year, reducible to 0.13 km³ through drip irrigation. Employment impacts range from 108,000 to 362,000 jobs at the farm level, though net agricultural employment may decline compared to existing crops, with offsetting opportunities in downstream industries. Environmentally, oil palms could sequester up to 83 million metric tons of carbon over 30 years, generating potential revenues of USD 418.28 million to USD 2.32 billion. Overall, the findings suggest that oil palm cultivation in coastal Sindh presents a viable strategy for enhancing economic benefits, optimising land and water use, and advancing Pakistan’s edible oil self-sufficiency
A Multi-Kernel SVR-LSTM Framework for Irregular Time Series Forecasting with Lightweight Semantic Features
No full textForecasting irregular time series data presents a persistent challenge across diverse domains such as energy, healthcare, environment, retail, and finance. Traditional models including ARIMA, Prophet, and LSTM typically assume regularly spaced data and often fail to capture critical characteristics of irregular sequences, such as disrupted temporal dependencies, masked seasonality, and misaligned time intervals. Moreover, these models usually lack the ability to incorporate semantic or contextual information (e.g., holidays, events, station metadata), which limits their adaptability and real-world relevance. This thesis proposes a novel hybrid methodology designed to address these limitations through a combination of structural kernel-based modeling and semantic enrichment via large language models (LLMs). The framework fuses three complementary kernels: Radial Basis Function (RBF) to capture nonlinear temporal patterns, Periodic kernels for extracting seasonal cycles, and Dynamic Time Warping (DTW) to handle distorted or misaligned sequences. To incorporate domain-specific context, structured features are converted into natural language prompts and embedded using a lightweight pretrained SentenceTransformer (MiniLM/OpenAI text emeddings), generating rich semantic vectors. These kernel-derived and contextual features are then passed through a two-stage learning pipeline: Support Vector Regression (SVR) to model static nonlinear relationships, followed by Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) networks to capture dynamic temporal dependencies. The proposed approach was empirically validated on nine real-world datasets comprising 31 forecasting variants, spanning applications such as electric vehicle charging load, heart rate monitoring, multi-city pollution levels, temperature forecasting, store sales, stock prices, exchange rates, and property values. Experimental results show that the hybrid model significantly outperformed baseline models including ARIMA, regime switching AR SARIMA, Random Forest, GRU, Regima fitting GRU, LSTM and regime fitting LSTM in five out of nine datasets, particularly where the data exhibited irregularity and semantic complexity. In addressing gaps identified through a comprehensive systematic literature review, this work contributes: (i) a novel hybrid methodology combining kernel fusion and contextual embeddings for irregular time series forecasting, (ii) extensive depth-first and breadth-first validation across domains, and (iii) a highly interpretable framework that balances forecasting accuracy with contextual depth, while recognizing trade-offs in computational efficiency and scalability
Why are multinationals exiting Pakistan?
No full textPakistan has witnessed a notable exodus of multinational corporations (MNCs) in recent years, including giants like Procter & Gamble, Shell, and Eli Lilly, due to a combination of global shifts in business strategies and a challenging domestic economic and regulatory environment. Factors such as low investment-to-GDP ratios, a consumption-driven economy, declining real incomes, and excessive reliance on foreign direct investment (FDI) have undermined productive capacity. Coupled with regressive taxation, high compliance costs, price-fixing, and a thriving informal economy, MNCs find it increasingly unprofitable to operate formally, leading many to scale down or exit.
The paper argues that sustainable economic reform requires a focus on domestic investment, reduction of corporate taxes, formalisation of the economy, and the creation of an enabling environment for competition. Instead of courting foreign investors with guarantees, Pakistan must first mobilise domestic savings, incentivise risk-taking, and allow market forces to operate efficiently. Addressing these structural distortions is essential to retain MNCs, boost production, and develop a resilient economy that can generate higher incomes, productive employment, and long-term growth
Terrorism and Economic Sentiments: An Empirical Analysis of Consumer Confidence in Pakistan
No full textThis study examines the impact of terrorism on consumer confidence and macroeconomic expectations in Pakistan by integrating data from the State Bank of Pakistan’s Consumer Confidence Surveys (CCS) with the Global Terrorism Database (GTD). Using a two-way fixed effects panel model, the analysis explores how terrorism influences both current and expected economic perceptions across 59 strata over multiple survey waves. Consumer sentiment indicators, including the Consumer Confidence Index (CCI), and a newly developed Macroeconomic Optimism Index (MOI), are constructed following the official SBP methodology. Terrorism intensity is measured by the number of attacks and casualties occurring within two months prior to each survey, reflecting the survey’s bi-monthly structure and ensuring temporal relevance. The model controls for both strata and time fixed effects, addressing unobserved heterogeneity and common macroeconomic shocks. Demographic and socioeconomic factors such as average age, gender composition, mean income, and education are included to isolate the independent effect of terrorism on consumer sentiment. Robust standard errors clustered at the stratum level correct for within-stratum serial correlation, ensuring reliable inference. This methodological design enhances the precision of estimates and provides a disaggregated understanding of how terrorism affects regional variations in economic sentiment across Pakistan. Empirical findings reveal that terrorism has a significant and negative associations with consumer confidence, expected financial conditions, and macroeconomic optimism. Frequent terrorist attacks erode confidence, indicating that persistent insecurity amplifies pessimism and weakens economic expectations. Moreover, older individuals tend to display higher levels of pessimism, while higher-income groups exhibit greater optimism. The results underscore that terrorism not only threatens physical security but also undermines psychological stability and economic resilience. The study highlights the importance of restoring security and public confidence as prerequisites for sustainable growth, making a novel contribution to understanding the behavioral and psychological channels through which terrorism influences economic sentiment in a developing country context
Impact of the Informal Economy on the Efficiency and Productivity of Pakistan’s Agricultural Sector
No full textAccording to the Ministry of Finance, more than 40 percent of Pakistan’s GDP is attributed to the informal sector. Nearly 75 percent of Pakistan’s working-age population is employed in the informal sector, according to the Labour Force Survey (2020-2021). The widespread persistence of the informal sector has several manifestations in the country’s agricultural economy. This study analyses the impact of the informal economy on agricultural productivity in Pakistan by applying Stochastic Frontier and Principal Component Analysis models using the Pakistan Standards of Living Measurement (PSLM) farm-level data collected in 2014, 2016, and 2019. It is the first regionally and nationally representative study of the informal economy’s impact on agricultural indicators using the country’s largest dataset. These findings show, as prior literature has suggested, that farms utilizing formal economic relations, including better working employment contracts, more access to proper credit resources, and better irrigation systems, produce higher yields than farms that operate within informal structures. In addition, crop diversification and resource allocation were found to be significant in raising the efficiency of agriculture. But there is also a geographical dimension to productivity - some of the agro-climatic regions are lagging consistently implying a case for focused attention
Transforming Women Entrepreneurial Businesses for People and Planet in the Digital World
No full textObjective
This study explores how women entrepreneurs adapt to and understand the ever-evolving technological, digital environment and sustainable economy.
Methodology
The research employs Heidegger\u27s hermeneutic phenomenology, using semi-structured interviews for data gathering. Thematic analysis was used to uncover themes, and NVivo 14 was utilized for data analysis.
Findings
The study\u27s results reveal that the dynamics of entrepreneurship have changed, requiring the development of digital, technological, and sustainability-related skills. This work argues that the contemporary expanding embeddedness of the service sector in digitalization is opening new vistas of success for potential women entrepreneurs. Silent and swift transformation of the entrepreneurial landscape in the form of digitalization of diverse dimensions of business offers entrepreneurial opportunities to women. This research views the inclusion of women entrepreneurs in terms of the promotion of the SDGs of advancing quality education and reducing inequalities, particularly within the country. This inclusion may partially but significantly contribute to enhancing the prospects of overcoming the continuing threat of ecological calamities.
Theoretical contribution
Liberal feminist theory demands equal liberty for women. This study supports Carol Gilligan\u27s work related to liberal feminism that women have equal liberty to do work like a man, and by establishing that women\u27s essential caring behavior aligns with sustainable development goals.
Practical contribution
The findings provide a substantial understanding of the intricate interplay between gender, digitalization, technology, and sustainability in entrepreneurship. It has practical relevance for lawmakers, business support organizations, educators, training institutes, and ambitious female entrepreneurs
Global Motors: Navigating the Leadership Crisis Amidst Expansion
No full textGlobal Motors: Navigating the Leadership Crisis Amidst Expansion explores the challenges faced by a high-performing automotive export company as it embarks on an ambitious growth journey. Known for its strong internal promotion culture and low turnover, Global Motors finds its leadership pipeline ill-prepared to meet the demands of rapid expansion. With 30 managerial roles urgently needing to be filled — and external hiring off the table — the company faces a strategic dilemma. The case examines the limitations of its current performance management system, the strain on internal development, and the cultural risks of evolving leadership models. It invites students to assess organizational alignment, recommend sustainable leadership development strategies, and balance growth with cultural integrity under pressure
Empowering Individuals For Sustainable Finance: The interplay of Financial Literacy, Fintech Adoption and Financial Well-Being
No full textThe authors investigate whether financial well-being in Pakistan is influenced by financial literacy and fintech adoption, specifically focusing on how fintech serves as a mediator in this relationship. An online questionnaire created by the research team was administered, and PLS-SEM was used to analyze the results. The analysis was performed on the 384 valid observations found in the survey. According to the findings, financial literacy enhances financial well-being, fintech use is associated with greater knowledge about financial matters, and fintech use can independently improve financial well-being. Our findings agree well with earlier research. This means the conclusions can support policymakers in developing the National Financial Inclusion Strategy (NFIS) 2024–28. They play a crucial role in helping banks and FinTechs develop functional and user-friendly digital financial services. The 4% increase targets NFIS\u27s aim to lift the financial inclusion rate from 64% to 75% by 2028. This research contributes to Sustainable Development Goal 1 (No Poverty) by demonstrating that financial literacy and the use of fintech can enhance a person\u27s financial well-being and increase their sense of inclusion.
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