Introduction

HEC aims to elevate the socio-economic position of the needy & deserving students by providing access to quality education through needs-based scholarships. Government of Pakistan has also duly acknowledged the financial constraints barring students from acquiring higher education and has thus earmarked substantial funds for the improvement of education sector.

In pursuance of the Government’s initiative of providing financial relief to meritorious but deprived students, an agreement of US$ 7.33 million in July 2004 is signed with United State Agency for International Development (USAID) to provide grant for scholarships in the field of Agriculture and Business Administration at undergraduate & graduate level.

Objectives

Scholarship Details

The scope of the project includes 1407 number of scholarships for the students who meet the eligibility criteria. The scholarships are bifurcated as follows:

The Merit and Needs based Scholarship Project has been in operation since 2004. Eleven (11) public & private institutions are participating in the program while more than 990 scholarships have been successfully awarded at the participating institutions.

*The undergraduate scholarship slots have been fully utilized only graduate level {MBA/MS (Agriculture)}scholarship slots are currently available

Scholarship Offering

Comprehensive scholarship is offered under the program. The scholarship provides funds for the following expenses:

1. Tuition fee
2. Lodging
3. Transportation
4. Books
5. Incidental costs

Students at both private & public sector institutes have found the scholarship extremely helpful in sustaining their educational expenses.

Eligibility Criteria

• Financial assistance & scholarships are available to study at graduate level(MBA/MS (Agriculture).
• The eligibility for the program is assessed on the neediness of the candidate & his/her family background.
• Student should be able to compete for securing admission in the approved discipline at the participating institution as per admission policy of the institution and be enrolled in Graduate (2 Years) programs.

How to Apply

HEC & USAID looks forward to support needy students in sharing educational expenses. However please note that under this scholarships scheme the funds are not transferred directly to students by HEC or USAID. The payment is made to needy students through participating institutions .Please note the partial scholarship for already enrolled students is currently not covered under this project.

Scholarship Award Process

1. After securing admission, a student has to fill out scholarship form provided by the Scholarship Aid Office of the participating institutions and submit it along with the supporting documents at the institution.
2. Data and supporting documents of the potential candidate are reviewed by Institutional Scholarship Award Committee (ISAC).
3. The ISAC recommends potential candidates to HEC Scholarship Management Committee (SMC).
4. The cases are presented to Scholarship Management Committee (SMC) that approves the cases after through review. The committee includes top Executives of HEC, representatives from the participating institutions, eminent scholars and a senior member from USAID, Pakistan. After finalization of awardees’ list, the scholarship fund for the selected students are transferred to participating institutions for onward disbursement to students.

Terms & Conditions

Participating Institutions

Eleven leading national institutes are participating under the current phase of Merit and Needs based Scholarship Project. Details of the participating institutions are as under:

Agriculture

1. University of Agriculture, Faisalabad.
2. NWFP Agriculture University, Peshawar.
3. Sindh Agriculture University, Tandojam.
4. University of Arid Agriculture, Rawalpindi

Business Administration

5. Quaid-e-Azam University, Islamabad.
6. Institute of Business Administration (IBA), Karachi.
7. Shaheed Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto Institute of Science and Technology (SZABIST), Karachi.
8. Institute of Business Administration (IBA), Sukkur.
9. Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS), Lahore.
10. Balochistan University of Information Technology & Management Sciences, Quetta.
11. Institute of Management Sciences, Peshawar.