ISLAMABAD: The United States government launched yesterday the second phase of its Merit and Needs Based Scholarship Programme which would benefit 3,000 talented Pakistani students in need of financial assistance to pursue higher education.
The launch of new phase of the programme funded by the US Agency for International Development (USAID) was announced by Gregory Gottlieb, the mission director of USAID Pakistan, at a ceremony
yesterday which was also attended by Minister for Planning and Development Ahsan Iqbal, Executive Director of the Higher Education
Commission (HEC) Prof Mukhtar Ahmad and vice chancellors of partner universities.
A total of 1,807 scholarships were awarded under the first phase of the programme and more than 1,300 students have already obtained their undergraduate and graduate degrees.
The programme served as a catalyst for other donors to award scholarships to students of the participating institutions, resulting in doubling of the number of students enrolled since 2004.
Because of the success of the programme, needs-based scholarships which were offered by just two institutions in 2004 are now being offered by about 70 public and private
universities.
INTERNEWS
