91 Sri Lankan students to study in Pakistan

ISLAMABAD:

As many as 91 students from Sri Lanka have been awarded the Allama Iqbal Scholarships to complete their higher education in Pakistan.

In a statement on Tuesday, the Higher Education Commission (HEC) said that the scholarships have been awarded for the Fall-2020 and Spring-2021 sessions to pursue higher education in Pakistani universities under the Pak-Sri Lanka Higher Education Cooperation Programme.

The selected students have already started arriving in Pakistan, with 27 of the 91 selected students reaching Islamabad, Lahore, Karachi and Sukkur to join their respective institutions.

As many as 525 students had applied for admissions in medical, engineering courses in Bachelors of Studies (BS), Masters of Studies (MS), and Doctorate in Philosophy (PhD) programmes. A selection board, comprising officials from HEC, the Pakistani high commission (PHC) in Colombo and the Sri Lankan University Grants Commission (UGC), had interviewed the students.

A total of 172 applicants had been shortlisted for interviews of which 91 students were finally selected.

Spread over five years, the Allama Iqbal Scholarship will allow as many as 1,000 Sri Lankan students to visit Pakistan and pursue higher education in engineering sciences, basic, natural and social sciences.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 27^th, 2020.