The United States Education Foundation for Pakistan (USEFP) has granted scholarships to over 160 under-graduate students hailing from the remote or economically disadvantaged areas of AJK, Fata, interior Sindh, Balochistan, Punjab and Northern Areas. The students will be departing for studies in various colleges and universities of the United States, on scholarships.
In this connection, a Pre-Departure Orientation (PDO) was arranged by USEFP for the students here on Saturday, in which they were briefed about the programme, visa regulations, American culture, higher education and campus life. Dr Robert H. Nichols, Assistant Professor, Richard Stockton College of New Jersey, himself in Pakistan on a Fulbright Scholar Grant, briefed the students about studying and adjusting in the US.
The scholarships are fully funded including travel, boarding, lodging, stipend, health insurance and the tuition fee for the entire period of study. Some students will be attending summer institutes for 4 to 6 weeks; others will be studying for either a year or semester. All of them are required to return to Pakistan to complete their bachelor's degrees. The selected students are being funded under 5 different programmes, of which 3 are administered by USEFP and two are directly managed by the US Embassy.
Programmes directly managed by the USEFP include 111 students under Global UGRAD Programme 2010 for one semester; 29 students under Pak-US Student Leadership Programme for study of the US Institute for Pakistani Student Leaders on Comparative Public Policy at University of Massachusetts Amherst for 6-week; and 6 students, who will study for one year under the Near East South Asia (NESA) Student Exchange Programme.
Programs directly administered by US Embassy include seven students under Study of United States Institute (SUSI) - Women Leaders Program proceeding to Green River Community College near Seattle, Washington for 4 weeks and 7 students under Benjamin Franklin Summer Institute with South and Central Asia Program proceeding to George Mason University for 4 weeks.
The really exciting thing about the students is that so many of them come from remote or economically disadvantaged areas of Pakistan and around one third of the grantees are female, said, Rita Akhtar, Acting Executive Director, USEFP, while addressing the students and other participants. She said that the grantees would be taught courses of various disciplines, including humanities and social science subjects, engineering, basic sciences, and business administration.
The USEFP is a bi-national commission, established in 1950 by the governments of Pakistan and the United States. USEFP is one of 51 'Fulbright Commissions' located throughout the world.
Since its inception 60 years ago, the Foundation has fostered mutual understanding between the people of Pakistan and the United States through educational and cultural exchange. Nearly 4,000 Pakistanis and more than 800 Americans have participated in USEFP administered exchange programs so far. The foundation supervises a variety of programmes that send Pakistani students and scholars to American campuses while bringing American scholars to universities in Pakistan.
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