This study was conducted in Pakistan during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study examines the role of leisure satisfaction on student engagement, during the period of COVID-19 in higher education institutes. The purpose of the study is to examine the impact of COVID-19 on students' leisure, emotional, cognitive and behavioral engagement. This study is based on three scales: the Leisure satisfaction scale, the student engagement scale and the fear of COVID-19 pandemic scale. This is a quantitative study based on a questionnaire. The results have been drawn over SmartPLS version 4.0. Covid-19 harms Leisure satisfaction, and it also harms the emotional engagement of students. Leisure satisfaction has a positive impact on student engagement, but it has a weak negative relationship with fear of Covid-19. The fear of the COVID-19 pandemic, negatively impacts the students' leisure satisfaction and leads to increased anxiety and depression.

This study investigates the impact of gamification on student engagement moderated by public policy in higher education. The psychological perspective of student engagement refers to the deep involvement of students in learning and acquiring knowledge. There are three dimensions of student engagement: cognitive, emotional, and behavioral. This study selects computer science students who were already enrolled in gamification classes. The selected sample of the study is based on multiple cities of Pakistan, including Lahore, Islamabad, and Karachi. The selection of institutes from three cities is made based on a convenience sampling technique. A 5-point Likert scale questionnaire is used to assess the role of gamification and its impact on gaming platforms and student engagement with dummy variables as public policy management that controls and devises rules and regulations for gamification in higher education departments. We examine the impact of gamification content, challenges, rewards, and the Kahoot platform on student engagement. There are positive and weak results regarding the impact of gamification, as the Kahoot platform itself has no attraction for students, but it provides a user-friendly medium to play games. There are a few topics for future research, such as the role of gamification platforms and their significant impact on students’ motivation and the role of public policy regarding gamification platforms and engagement. Gamification challenges and rewards have been discussed in the study to observe the mediating impact. The analysis of the study is carried out in SmartPLS Version 4.0.