USAID Funded Merit and Needs-Based Scholarships Program

USAID Funded Merit and Needs-Based Scholarships Program

Introduction

USAID Funded Merit and Needs-Based Scholarships Program

Higher Education Commission (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 1807 number of scholarships for the students who meet the eligibility criteria. The scholarships are bifurcated as follows:

Program Offered

Under-graduate
Graduate
Agriculture (980)
425
555

Business Administration (827)
332
495

Total
757
1050

Grand Total
1807

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 1407 scholarships have been successfully awarded at the participating institutions.

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. Other Academics 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 for study at undergraduate & graduate level in the prescribed disciplines at the selected Pakistani universities and degree awarding institutions.
Financial assistance & scholarships are available to study at Undergraduate & Grduate level [BBA/MBA & BS/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 Under-Graduate (4-Years) & Graduate (2-Years) programs.

Focused area in the financial assistance & scholarships are as follows:

(i) Preferred Geographical Area

The focus will be remote areas at the national level with emphasis given to needy females and students from FATA, Khyber Pukhtunkhawa, Southern Punjab, Balochistan, and North Sindh. Students will be required to verify their attendance at Government Colleges/Schools in these areas to prove that they are eligible.

(ii) 25% Females Seats

Women’s participation in the education sector is very low. This activity will ensure that at least 25% of the awarded scholarships go to women, especially those coming from remote and vulnerable areas of Pakistan, who are financially needy, and meet admission criteria of the selected 11 partner universities.

Only those students who are applying for spring/fall 2011 admission in the respective courses offered by the participating institutions are eligible to apply.
The eligibility of a candidate is linked to neediness of the candidate as determined & assessed by the financial background of his/her family.
Terms & Conditions
Participating Institutions

Eleven (11) 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

University of Agriculture, Faisalabad.
Khyber Pakhtun Khwa Agriculture University, Peshawar.
Sindh Agriculture University, Tandojam.
Pir Mehr Ali Shah Arid Agriculture Univeristy, Rawalpindi
Business Administration
Quaid-e-Azam University, Islamabad.
Institute of Business Administration (IBA), Karachi.
Shaheed Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto Institute of Science and Technology (SZABIST), Karachi.
Institute of Business Administration (IBA), Sukkur.
Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS), Lahore.
Balochistan University of Information Technology & Management Sciences, Quetta.
Institute of Management Sciences, Peshawar.

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 that partial scholarship for already enrolled students is currently not covered under this project.)

Scholarship Award Process:

Along with admission form of the participating institution, 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.

Data and supporting documents of the potential candidate are reviewed by Institutional Scholarship Award Committee (ISAC).

The ISAC recommends potential candidates to HEC Scholarship Management Committee (SMC).

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.