All in the name: European Union distances itself from namesake education organisation

The EU Education Foundation is promising 10,000 scholarships to Pakistani students each year

KARACHI:

The European Union (EU) has distanced itself from a namesake education foundation, which is promising scholarships to 10,000 Pakistani students each year to study in different universities of Europe, The Express Tribune has learnt.

The EU delegation to Pakistan, headed by Ambassador Lars-Gunnar Wigemark, issued a statement on Tuesday, stating that the foundation, the 'European Union Education Foundation (EUEF)', was in no way associated with the EU.

"There have been reports in the media recently about an organisation called the EUEF, which is apparently promising stipends to Pakistani students to study in Europe," said Ayesha Babar, the press and public relations officer at the delegation. "[This foundation] neither has any link with the delegation nor does the delegation endorse its activities or statements." Babar also advised the public and media to "use due diligence and precaution when dealing with the EUEF."



The delegation's statement prompted the Sindh education department's reform support unit into action, whose spokesperson on Wednesday clarified that the Sindh government, as well, had no affiliation or connection with the foundation.

"[Since] our partner, the EU delegation to Pakistan, has informed us that they have nothing to do with the foundation, it is advised to the general public, especially students, to be careful when dealing with the EUEF," suggested the reform support unit's spokesperson.

Officials with the EU delegation told The Express Tribune that their namesake education foundation had registered itself in the United Kingdom barely four months ago as the 'EU Education Foundation Limited' under the company registration number - 09073124. "Since they are offering a ridiculous number of scholarships to Pakistani students while flaunting the EU's name and flag on their website, we felt obliged to clarify the situation that the Pakistani citizens will be dealing with them at their own risk," said an official, who requested not to be named.

For the education foundation's part, Azfar Bukhari, project manager and media coordinator, claimed to be surprised over the dual clarifications when approached by The Express Tribune.



"They [the European Union and the Sindh government] should have no objection on our utilising the EU's name or flag with the foundation's name, since we are registered within the EU," asserted Bukhari. "From day one, we never claimed to have any link to the EU, though we have hundreds of colleges and universities across Europe affiliated under this scholarship programme. We are the 'European Union' Education Foundation but we do not have any link with the European Union."

Bukhari, however, refused to disclose the names of the affiliated colleges and universities with the foundation.

The foundation, said Bukhari, intends to launch the first phase of the project by offering scholarships to 3,300 Pakistani students to study in its affiliated universities and colleges in Greece and Cyprus. "Starting from there, an equal number of scholarships will be offered thrice in a year, leading to admissions at universities and colleges in all 26 [sic] member states of the EU."

Published in The Express Tribune, October 17^th, 2014.