CM approves policy for Shahbaz Sharif merit scholarship programme

Lahore: Chief Minister of Punjab Mian Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif on Friday gave his approval to the policy for Shahbaz Sharif Merit Scholarship Programme.

These fully funded scholarships will be granted to the deserving candidates for masters’ and doctorate level education under the programme. Almost 30 aspirants would be funded annually for PhD studies in the foreign universities and approximately 1,000 aspirants will be funded for master’s degree in national universities.

CM said that these funds will be extended to the selected applicants through the Punjab Educational Endowment Fund. He moreover instructed the concerned authorities to unveil a campaign to raise awareness regarding the programmes.

The third party audits will be organized to certify the transparency in these programmes, he added. He said that the aspirants from other provinces and Azad Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan will also be deliberated for this scholarship programme.

During the meeting, CM also reviewed the improvement on a scholarship programme for the promotion of Chinese language abilities in the province. He said that government is sponsoring a study tour to China for almost 500 students, also involving the aspirants from other provinces, to attend the two-year course in Chinese language.

He moreover added that the first batch will leave for China this month. He asked the concerned authorities to change a policy for generation of jobs for these aspirants on completion of their 2-year course.

Chief Minister also asked the authorities to evolve a programme for sponsoring the language study tour for 30 students to Turkey.

In beginning, secretary of Higher Education briefed the meeting regarding Shahbaz Sharif Merit Scholarship Programme and Chinese Language Course Programme.