Rukhsana Zia

I retired as a government employee with 37 years of experience of teaching and, academic leadership positions, before joining my present position in 2012. After my PhD in 1994, I diversified my work at the postgraduate level to include collaborations with international agencies (UNICEF, DFID, GTZ, CIDA, WB etc and local non-governmental organizations); and intensified research on various social issues (gender, education and development, and values in education) in the context of Pakistan. I have to my credit national and international publications (19 articles plus edited a book). I have been invited to various international conferences to deliver research papers. From 2001-2004, I served at UNESCO (Paris) for 3 years. Apart from acquiring skills of communication, and negotiation in a diverse multi-cultural, multi-lateral setting, this provided me with significant experience to understand the global policy issues associated with Education, Sciences, Social Sciences, Culture, and, Communication & Information in a holistic and global perspective. My position (2004 to 2008), as head of the organization responsible for professional development of public school teachers of Punjab (i.e. pre-service education with 33 colleges of education, 600 faculty, 4500 students, and, in-service training of approx. 300,000 public school teachers), honed my leadership and managerial skills. I developed and formalized a policy for an integrated vision of teacher professional development, and established quality assurance structures and processes with sustainable strategies to actualize policy objectives – a first time ever in Punjab. Thus I bring a unique mix of academic scholarship, research, teaching, and policy making. I have practical experience of leadership and management of an educational institution in a developing country, as well as, international policy making exposure as Pakistan’s representative to UNESCO, Paris.