These two-year Graduate Level scholarships, which will be offered to excellent women to pursue Master’s degrees in agriculture, business, engineering, health sciences, and social sciences, will begin this year and run through 2023, according to an official statement made by the embassy today.
The announcement today raises the total number of Merit- and Needs-Based Scholarship Program (MNBSP) scholarships awarded to Pakistani students to 6,000, according to the US Agency for International Development.
“These additional 700 fully-funded graduate-level scholarships will be offered to some of the most talented Pakistani women to assist them achieve their higher education goals,” USAID Deputy Mission Director Michael Nehrbass was cited as saying in the statement.
“Dr. Sania Nishtar, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Poverty Alleviation and Social Protection, and Dr. Shaista Sohail, Executive Director of the HEC, thanked USAID for expanding the MNBSP and acknowledged that the investment in women’s scholarships and their recruitment are important steps to further women’s empowerment and access to higher education, a shared goal of HEC,” according to the statement.
According to the statement, the US has awarded 5,300 merit and need-based scholarships to financially disadvantaged but academically successful students in Pakistan since 2003.
The US Agency for International Development’s Merit and Needs-Based Scholarship Program (MNBSP) grants scholarships to academically bright and financially disadvantaged students for university study through a cooperation with the HEC, according to the statement.
According to the statement, the initiative is aimed at young people from Pakistan’s remote and rural areas, including northern Sindh, Baluchistan, southern Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and the former Federally Administered Tribal Areas.