Countering Disinformation through Education: The Curriculum Readiness of Pakistani Universities
Educational interventions based on the Media & Information Literacy (MIL) approach could offer a promising route to outperform online disinformation. But higher education institutions may require considerable support to implement impactful MIL efforts. This research study identifies the current gaps in journalism curriculum and faculty capacity to teach topics related to countering disinformation. It also highlights the willingness of the academia to collaborate and offers recommendations for improvements. It was produced by IMS, Mediastan, Coalition Against Disinformation and partner Freedom Network.
Key findings
- 87% of the journalism schools do not offer dedicated courses on MIL or countering disinformation.
- At least 33% have also not integrated related topics in existing journalism courses.
- Most journalism schools (around 80%) do not have any faculty member with academic skills or industry expertise in MIL, fact-checking or countering disinformation topics.
Core recommendations:
- Pakistan’s Higher Education Commission should revise its national education policies and curricula to integrate MIL topics.
- Universities should introduce dedicated MIL courses, invest in faculty development and foster inter-faculty collaboration so journalism and tech academics can help each other with skill-building and co-design of courses.
Strategic actions
The study calls upon civil society organisations to offer training support, advocate for education policy change, and build partnerships with academia and media to foster collective push against disinformation.
