The Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS) and MCB Bank Limited signed an agreement on Saturday through which MCB Bank will provide commercial loans to MBA and Executive MBA students of the Suleman Dawood School of Business (SDSB) of the University.
The commercial loan facility will be pivotal for students who are currently financially unable to afford the cost of tuition and living facilities. This is one of the first ventures of such kind in Pakistan and is a testimony to MCB's commitment to support higher education as well as the marketability of LUMS students.
While speaking at the ceremony, Dr Arif Butt, Dean Suleman Dawood School of Business, LUMS, said, "LUMS holds a need blind admission policy ie it does not discriminate on the basis of financial strength of the individual while admitting a student, the process for which is based purely on merit. Today, LUMS gives 25 percent of its tuition fee as waivers and aid to various students. At any point in time over 1/3rd of students in LUMS are availing some form of financial support. The institution has consistently been including other stakeholders in the community to help with this important task through various endowments and scholarship programmes. This student loan by MCB is part of the endeavour for providing financial assistance to students and we hope to see the programme being expanded to include other graduate and undergraduate students."
Ali Mubashir Kazmi, the Head of Consumer Banking at MCB said, "This structured student loan facility for LUMS MBA Programme, is first of a kind being offered in the country. This is in line with MCB Bank's vision to provide financial assistance to talented students while maintaining financial viability of the product. This structured loan facility to LUMS is the first step towards this vision and we will also try to extend this facility to other premier institutions of the country. The lending rate under this scheme is subsidised as compared to commercial rate so that students can take educational loans on softer terms. We have introduced the concept of First Loss in the structuring which is in line with structuring of similar products in more developed economies".-PR
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