160 Pakistani students to study in US on scholarship
Islamabad, May 24: Around 160 undergraduate Pakistani students will be heading to the US shortly for higher studies on scholarships.

The scholarships fund students’ traveling and lodging. They also provide for their stipend, health insurance and tuition fees for the entire period of study.

Some of these students will attend summer institutes for four to six weeks; others will study for either a year or a full semester. All students are required to return to Pakistan to complete their Bachelor’s degrees.

In this connection, United States Educational Foundation in Pakistan (USEFP) organised a Pre-Departure Orientation (PDO) for the students at a local hotel here on Saturday.

The students were briefed on visa regulations, American culture, higher education and campus life in the US.

Richard Stockton College of New Jersey Assistant Professor Dr Robert H Nichols, on the occasion, briefed recipients of scholarships on studying in the US and adjusting in a new environment. The workshop was preceded by a dinner where the students were welcomed.

USEFP Acting Executive Director Rita Akhtar said, “The exciting thing about these undergraduate programmes is that majority of students come from remote and economically disadvantaged areas of Pakistan including AJK, FATA, interior Sindh, Balochistan and Northern Areas. Around one-third of these recipients are females.”

She said the students would be studying variety of courses including humanities, social sciences, engineering, basic sciences and business administration.

The selected students are funded under five different programmes, of which three are administered by the USEFP and two are managed directly by the US Embassy.

Programmes managed directly by USEFP include 111 students under Global UGRAD Programme, 2010, 29 students under Pak-US Student Leadership Programme and six students who will study for a year under the Near East South Asia (NESA) Student Exchange Programme.

Programmes directly administered by the US Embassy include seven students under Study of United States Institute (SUSI) and Women Leaders Programme proceeding to Green River Community College near Seattle, Washington for four weeks and seven students under Benjamin Franklin Summer Institute with South and Central Asia Programme proceeding to George Mason University for four weeks.

USEFP, established in 1950 by both Pakistani and the US governments, is a bi-national commission. Daily times

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