Exploration of Factors Influencing Peacebuilding Among Students of Higher Education Institutes in Pakistan

ABSTRACT Peacebuilding is a comprehensive and multidimensional process aimed at creating sustainable peace by addressing the root causes of conflict and fostering an environment where individuals and communities from diverse cultural, ethnic, racial, religious, and national backgrounds can coexist harmoniously. This process involves a range of activities, including conflict prevention, resolution and transformation, as well as post‐conflict reconstruction and reconciliation. In Pakistan, there were many cases of violent behaviours reported in educational institutes that disturbed the peace in the environment. Formal study helped to explore the underlying factors that affect the process of peacebuilding in higher education institutes of Pakistan. For this purpose, data was collected from public sector universities. The sample comprised students from the third year of undergraduate studies onward, selected based on their prior experience with violent incidents in their educational institutes. Data was collected by focus group discussions and interviews from teachers, students and administrative members of universities. Transcription and translation were done using audio recordings. Thematic analysis was done to explore the themes identified by participants using an inductive‐deductive approach. Five themes were identified using extracts of the participants named as: Intra‐personal, inter‐personal, inter‐group, environment based and religious factors. These themes were identified on the basis of both semantic and latent meanings from the extracts of participants. Suggestions for strategies that can contribute towards peacebuilding and recommendations for research were made.