Roughly 3,000 scholarships were funded for Asian students but only 57 of those came from Pakistan as compared to around 500 from India in year 2016, the EU representative in Pakistan, Anne Kofoed said. Speaking at a workshop organised by the University of Health Sciences (UHS) here on Thursday, Anne Kofoed said, "This is remarkably less than could be expected, given the country's size."
Anne further said Erasmus Plus, the higher education programme of the European Union, was currently open offering scholarships to students and staff to study in Europe. She said Erasmus Plus offered many opportunities for universities. "Although the scholarship part of the programme is well-known in Pakistan, the new parts focusing on inter-university cooperation and capacity building need further introduction," she said, adding: "Capacity building projects could include curriculum development and modernisation, upgrading facilities and equipment, or improving university governance."
"In 2016, only one capacity building application, among 107 selected for Asian countries, involved Pakistan. We need to create more awareness about the opportunities the Erasmus Plus offers for Pakistani universities," said Anne Kofoed. The workshop was part of a series of workshops being organised by the European Union in Pakistan in collaboration with the Higher Education Commission (HEC). The workshops aim at raising awareness about the opportunities offered by the Erasmus Plus programme for Pakistani universities to encourage more applications.
Speaking on the occasion, Dr Asad Zaheer, UHS Registrar hoped more Pakistani scholars would avail the opportunities being provided through the European Union. "Through the Erasmus Plus programme, higher education institutions can benefit from strategic improvement of the professional skills of their staff, organisational capacity building, and creating transnational co-operative partnerships with organisations from other countries in order to produce innovative outputs or exchange best practices," Dr Asad said.