Young scholar secures distinction as successfully defends his PhD dissertation

Altaf Hamid Rao.

 

 

MIRPUR [AJK] ,   (Parliament Times):   Young scholar Muhammad Shoaib has successfully defended his PhD dissertation on “Sociological Analysis of Teachers Perspectives on Students Academic Performance in Higher Education in the Punjab”.

It was examined and approved by two foreign and two local experts of sociology. He completed his PhD in Sociology with specialization in Sociology of Education from Department of Sociology, International Islamic University Islamabad. He completed his Ph.D under the supervision of Dr. Hazir Ullah-Associate Professor, Sociology and Director ORIC, Quaid-I-Azam University, Islamabad, Pakistan.

He visited The University of Queensland, Australia under the International Research Support Initiative Programme (IRSIP) of Higher Education Commission (HEC) of Pakistan. His pubic defense/viva voce examination committee consisted of Prof. Dr. Amina Mahmood (Chairperson-Examination Committee), Dr. Hazir Ullah (Supervisor), Dr. M. Baber Akram (In-charge-Department of Sociology), Prof. Dr. Niaz Muhammad (External examiner), Dr. Farhan Navid Yousaf (External Examiner) and Dr. Akhlaq Ahmad (Internal Examiner).

The defense was attended by committee members, faculty and students. The examination committee appreciated Dr. Shoaib’s research and declared it a significant contribution in the field of sociology of education and gender issues. The dissertation revealed a novel phenomenon of female students outperform and male students underperform in the higher education across academic disciplines.

Most of the top position holder were female students from the urban areas of the province of the Punjab. Evidence of females’ outperformance and males’ underperformance are derived from content analysis of examination results from 2006 to 2015 at master levels.

However, primary data collected from university teachers revealed that there are multiple factors contributing towards gender differentials in academic performance at tertiary level. Further, the statistical analysis was performed to draw conclusion including Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) and Artificial Neural Network (ANN) techniques. The study is of great significance for understanding the changing nature of gender performance in Education.

Dr Muhammad Shoaib is working as Assistant Professor, Department of Sociology, University of Gujrat. He belonged to the Chiniot, Punjab. He has experience of teaching in national and international organizations. He was adjunct faculty member at Arizona State University, Arizona, USA and visiting scholar at The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia. He has published several research papers in well reputed peer reviewed national and international journals. He has also published few book chapters. His PhD research will add in the existing body of knowledge and literature.