Higher Education in Pakistan

One of the measures of development in any country in the world is the ratio of educated people to the whole population. The UNESCO considers it as a way for combating or at least alleviating poverty. Pakistan as one of the developing has grappled with the issue during the past few decades. The Pakistani Higher Education Commission in cooperation with the Ministry of Education has launched ambitious programs to educate the Pakistani students in college and send the bright ones abroad to get graduate degrees such as the MS and PhD. from developed countries in America and Europe. This study has considered the problem of education and its relationship with poverty on the one hand, and its relation with gender and ethnicity where some tribal rules may hinder education of females on the other hand. The authors find that in Western Countries such as Canada, USA, and Australia parents are not responsible for the expenses of educating their children in college. The ratio of parents paying the expenses of their children education in college may be as low as 20%.or even less. At the same time, more than 50 % of the students in colleg