The article investigates the response of the Pakistani curriculum to the Covid-19 outbreak. It also looks into the development of a curriculum that addresses the specificities of students' situations, while reminding them of global connectedness. The article is based on semi-structured interviews with 10 curriculum experts, 20 principals, and 35 teachers, as well as content analysis of the 2018 National Curriculum Framework of Pakistan. Its findings reveal participants' disappointment with the top-down, predetermined nature of the curriculum, which makes it inadequate for situations such as the Covid-19 pandemic. The curriculum was perceived as being highly rigid, with little room for alternative modalities. Participants believed the curriculum could not support children's learning in normal times, much less during a pandemic. Therefore, this article suggests a complete revamping of the curriculum and strengthening of teachers' capabilities. It also suggests curricular material be updated to make it context specific, responsive to the needs of learners, and supportive of independent learning. Keywords Covid-19 crisis • Curriculum • Curriculum responsiveness • Learning • Pakistan At present, the world seeks insight into, knowledge of, and solutions to the myriad challenges confronting the education sector due to the Covid-19 pandemic (Gul and Khilji 2020). A country's needs, as well as the needs dictated by a rapidly changing working world, directly affect the educational environment and the ability to ensure a career-oriented

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Purpose Sustainability has globally become a mantra to address complex and unprecedented survival, social, political and peace issues. Higher education institutions bear responsibility to address them. This paper aims to explore barriers that Pakistani public universities (PPUs) face in embedding sustainability at their campuses. This paper also offers potential opportunities to take initiatives to minimize barriers and move towards a sustainable future. Design/methodology/approach This paper is based on case study approach, and data were gathered through interviews and documents. Interviews with 11 academic administrators were conducted to gain deeper understanding on issues of governance and its influence on sustainability. Data were analysed using thematic analysis that created thematic map/model. Findings Key findings include, firstly, that majority of participants think poor governance is the biggest issue in demoting sustainability. This barrier causes an array of interconnected barriers. Secondly, participants strongly associate unsustainability with lack of institutional change and training. Finally, lack of resources was the most frequently articulated barrier. Findings provided a rationale to propose suggestions to promote sustainability. Originality/value Developed countries are leaders in promoting sustainability, whereas developing countries are laggards. Pakistan, a developing country, does not have substantial research to reveal the barriers PPUs are facing to promote sustainability. This paper is an attempt to address research gap in identifying barriers to sustainability.

The interaction between environment and individual personality determines career. Over the past decades, the role of personality traits in explaining entrepreneurship cannot get much attention of researchers. To fill this gap, this study aims to investigate the effect of personality traits (extraversion, openness to experience, conscientiousness, neuroticism, and agreeableness) on the entrepreneurial intentions (EI) along with the mediating role of financial risk taking (FRT). Sample size consists of 500 students of business and management of different universities of Pakistan, out of which 466 useable questionnaires were collected and analyzed. The results of the study are consistent with conventional wisdom as explored by past studies. In line with past studies and proposed hypothesis, we found that both extraversion and openness to experience have a positive association with FRT, whereas neuroticism, conscientiousness, and agreeableness have negative association with FRT. The results also revealed that there is positive association between FRT and EI; however, FRT did not mediate the relationship between agreeableness and EI.