Constructing the 'Ideal' Graduate Student: A Critical Examination of Language and Rhetoric in “Graduate Education Policy 2023”

Abstract

This paper uses Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) to analyze how the figure of the 'ideal' graduate student is discursively constructed in the Pakistan Higher Education Commission Graduate Education Policy 2023. Analyzing policy features, meaning, and discursive constitution, we reveal the ideological presuppositions that have framed graduate education in Pakistan. The study's findings are the conflict between international academic norms and the local cultural environments and between cultivating influential independent scholars and preserving the institutional order. When discussing the policy, one cannot but notice the tension between neo-liberal and traditional academies' values and the focus on bringing the national development agenda into focus. Our findings suggest that the constructed 'ideal' graduate student is expected to embody a challenging combination of traits: academic standards, creativity, high standards of integrity, and relevance to the nation's goals. It expands the literature on how educational policies construct students' identities and academic environments to aid policymakers, educators, and learners in the context of Pakistan and other countries experiencing shifting graduate attributes and pedagogical demands.