Policymakers and academe around the globe are deeply concerned about maximizing benefits of localized aspect of higher education for the development of an individual local community. Considering benefits of localization in higher education, this study examined the existence of localization for the implementation of triplization at policy and practice level. With problem statement in alignment of the aims of National Education Policy Pakistan 2009, this research study is particularly aimed to analyze present state of higher education in Pakistan in terms of focus on local networking, technological, economic, social, political, cultural, and learning localization, decentralization to the local site level, indigenous culture, community needs and expectations, local involvement, collaboration and support, local relevance and legitimacy, community-based needs and characteristics, social norms and ethos as the key characteristics of localization referred to by Cheng in his theory of triplization. A mixed method exploratory approach was acquired to meet the objectives of the study. Sample of the study were policy and provision documents for the content analysis and 1429 students and 140 faculty members from 15 universities of Punjab and KPK as the respondents of survey. Findings at both policy and practices in aspects of HE revealed an agreement on the presence of localization at the institutional process level; localization of curriculum reflected inadequacy in policies whereas practices too, reflect an average level presence; localization of student and learning occurred in policies and practices at above average level whereas localized teacher and teaching aspect is catered to some extent in policies and provisions and precise average presence is responded by survey respondents.

China and India have emerged as the worlds leading economies in the last four decades. The remarkable economic rise of the once-dormant and fragile economies of both China and India is one of the astonishing stories in the recent past. Both have introduced robust and revolutionary reforms in their economic policies which effected fast and sustained economic growth. These reforms include liberalization of the economic policies, emphasis on attracting foreign direct investment, and focus on enhancing trade. China, which introduced the semi-capitalist economy after the 1978 reforms have already become the worlds second-largest economy behind the USA, while India has emerged as the fastest-growing economy in South Asia. This study aims at comparing the economic trajectory of these two rising Asian economic giants. The research also focuses on those factors that played a decisive role in the economic rise of these countries.

Background: Undergraduate medical students require a strong foundation in histology which is an important part of curriculum in basic sciences years. Histology is considered to be a difficult subject by the students. Aim: To facilitate student learning, Socrative was introduced into histology practicals. Methods: This was a comparative cross-sectional study conducted among second year MBBS students (n=146) in histology. Socrative based activity, Space race, was introduced into histology practicals for the entire duration of module-III (10 weeks). This activity was done by the students in addition to demonstration and slide viewing under microscope. Performance of the students was assessed in histology Objective Structured Practical Examination (OSPE) and viva during module examinations. Score sheets of module-I were compared to those of module-III to assess the impact of using Socrative on academic performance. The study was approved by institutional Ethical Review Committee. Results: The results were analyzed using Wilcoxon Signed Rank test which showed statistically significant improvement in the performance of students (P value= 0.0001) in module-III. Moreover, 81.5% students showed improvement in academic performance after using Socrative. Conclusion: These results show that use of Socrative assessment method as part of teaching method, improved academic performance of undergraduate medical students in histology. Keywords: Socrative, histology, formative assessment, academic performance (MeSH words required)

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