Karima Kara

Experience

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  British Council Pakistan

  Oct 1999 - Oct 2006

  -Directed exam administration, new school affiliation, business growth, and development strategies for UK qualifications-Managed a dynamic team of 30 full-time staff members and over 300 contractual staff, fostering a collaborative and high-performance work environment.-Spearheaded a transformative initiative, overseeing the successful attachment of a consortium of 25 schools to British Council Examination Services. This resulted in a remarkable 30% increase in annual exam volume and income.-Took a proactive approach to exam security, introducing advanced measures to safeguard the integrity of the examination process and uphold exam board standards.-Led policy formulation and strategic planning discussions, actively contributing to the Country Exams Strategy and alignment with the organization's broader goals.-Managed a budget of £2.5 million, while overseeing the delivery of approximately 90,000 examinations annually. Led the yearly budget planning, forecasting and variance analysis processes. Show less -Oversaw the British Chevening Scholarships and Charles Wallace Trust Fellowship Awards, encompassing the complete scholarship lifecycle process.-Led the coordination of the FCDO-funded Higher Education Links program, actively promoting academic partnerships between Universities in Pakistan and the UK while also encouraging heads of departments to submit collaborative proposals.-Played a key role in revitalizing the Karachi Chapter of the British Alumni Association, resurrecting its activities after a dormant period of a decade. Show less

  • Director Examinations (Sindh & Balochistan)

    Sept 2001 - Oct 2006

  • Programme Manager

    Oct 1999 - Aug 2001
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  Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority

  Oct 2009 - Jan 2010

  Work Attachment

  As an awardee of the Australian Executive Endeavor Award worked with the Assessment and Reporting branch of the Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority to get an hands on experience of their assessment operations work including the marking of papers, processing and reporting of results as well as qualitative reporting of the candidates performances aimed at improving teaching and learning practices.

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  Aga Khan University Examination Board

  Apr 2014 - Dec 2014

  Associate Director of Operations

  -Worked closely with organizational leadership and board of directors to guide the Examination Board's Operational Strategy.-Directed the expansion and delivery of AKU-EB qualifications, ensuring high-quality school affiliation and teacher support services. -Played a pivotal role in the creation of quality assurance frameworks related to exam administration, accessibility, appeals, training of venue staff, secure handling, storage, and transmission of exam-related data, with a strong emphasis on maintaining confidentiality and preventing breaches.-Championed the creation of AKU-EB's $ 250,000-endowment fund by nurturing strong partnerships within the school community to support merit-cum-need scholarships.-Acknowledged as an accomplished professional within Pakistan's education sector, I earned the prestigious Australian Endeavour Executive Award 2009 during my tenure at AKU-EB. This award granted me a work attachment at the Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority, which expanded my understanding of global education and the potential of public-private partnerships. Show less

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  Education Fund for Sindh - EFS

  Oct 2015 - Aug 2016

  Director Operations

  -Led the implementation of an FCDO-funded Education Voucher Scheme, targeting the enrollment of out-of-school children. Managed a 60-member team to oversee schools and student enrollments as well as voucher distribution.-Under my leadership, the Education Voucher Scheme team effectively enrolled out-of-school children by persuading parents to allow their attendance at nearby schools, thereby enhancing educational accessibility for marginalized communities.-Introduced performance measurement tools for external survey agencies, elevating survey quality and speed. Implemented process enhancements to improve school approval rates and student enrolment ratios. Show less

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  Cambridge University Press

  Sept 2016 - Mar 2023

  Country Manager Pakistan

  -Established Cambridge University Press’s Liaison office in Pakistan. Directed operations setup, team recruitment, and training of education consultants. Formulated and executed a comprehensive business development strategy to drive sales and meet revenue objectives.-Achieved 50% revenue growth in the second year of operations and thereafter consistently exceeded budgeted targets. Optimized value chain processes through transformative distributor relationships, affecting supply and demand of Cambridge resources.-Worked extensively with public sector stakeholders, including the provincial education ministries and regulators during the 2020 national curriculum implementation. Ensured regulators understood the impact of their decisions on publishers while engaging proactively with the UK’s Department for International Trade, Pakistan Education consortium, key school chains and the National Curriculum Council for favorable policies.-Worked closely with the Learning Solutions Team in the UK to align Cambridge Primary resources to the national curriculum, ensuring cultural appropriateness and localization of content in line with curriculum demands, regulatory approval, and speed to market.-Pioneered the acquisition of a groundbreaking learning solutions contract in Pakistan, tailoring the adoption of primary English textbooks for a prominent school chain spanning 175 campuses and serving 100,000 students. Show less