The Higher Education Commission (HEC) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the University of New Mexico (UNM), USA, for scholarship programme for higher studies of teachers and scholars of Pakistan.
Initially, the School of Engineering (SOE) at UNM will enroll Pakistani candidates for MS leading to PhD and PhD programmes starting from 2013. However, the officials at UNM informed that they are working on expanding the agreement to major disciplines and soon the expanded MOU would be sent to HEC.
The University of New Mexico (UNM) is a leading public sector higher education institution located at Albuquerque New Mexico in the United States. Offering variety of programmes, the university is ranked amongst the best universities of the world. The HEC would provide scholarships to eligible Pakistani candidates for higher studies at the University of New Mexico. It is hoped that this mutual cooperation would lead towards fruitful result in the field of higher education.
Under various scholarship schemes, the HEC has awarded more than 6,000 foreign scholarships to Pakistani scholars, for undertaking higher education studies and research at best institutions of 37 academically advanced countries. These foreign scholarships have been awarded in all the major disciplines including physical sciences, agriculture and veterinary sciences, biological and medical sciences, social sciences, management sciences and engineering.
After successful completion of studies, these scholars have started returning to Pakistan and applying the knowledge and expertise to address the various socio-economic problems being confronted by Pakistani society. These scholars are also contributing in assisting “Universities building economies, leadership and communities”. The commission has also devised a special programme titled “Interim Placement of Fresh PhDs” for facilitating the placement of these scholars at academic and research institutions.
The programme is part of HEC’s effort to ensure proper utilisation of the manpower being trained through investments in the scholarship programmes. The HEC Interim Placement of Fresh PhDs Programme is underlying two-pronged approach. Primarily, it provides the lucrative avenues of employment to the fresh PhD professionals and secondly it meets the faculty requirement of public and private sector universities / DAIs for ensuring quality teaching and research. Each IPFP awardee is also provided with Rs0.5 million start up research grant to initiate a feasible research project at his or her host university, immediately upon joining.
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