The Higher Education Commission (HEC) held a ceremony today at the HEC Secretariat to award 165 Pakistani PhD scholars a six-month fellowship opportunity under the International Research Support Initiative Program (IRSIP). Dr. Mukhtar Ahmed, Chairman of the Higher Education Commission, was the chief guest.
HEC has distributed a total of 3,199 awards under IRSIP, with the goal of improving the quality of doctoral research, providing opportunities for scholars to train at advanced labs of prestigious institutes, and introducing Pakistani talent globally.
966 fellowships in Biological and Medical Sciences, 831 in Physical Sciences, 576 in Agriculture and Veterinary Sciences, 471 in Social Sciences, 269 in Engineering and Technology, and 86 in Management Sciences have been awarded.
Addressing the ceremony, Chairman HEC said that “This project was conceived during the early years of HEC’s establishment with an aim to give dynamic research opportunity to students so they can make bright careers and serve the country.”
He urged the students to take advantage of this opportunity because it comes with a lot of investment at a time when the country is suffering from a severe dollar shortage. He asked them to remember Pakistan for their assistance.
Speaking on the occasion, Executive Director HEC shared the breakdown of this session’s awards. “The gender ratio of the awardees is very heartening as 47% of the awardees are female scholars, whereas 53% are male.”
Vice Chancellor Capital University of Science and Technology (CUST) appreciated the role of HEC’s scholarship division. “I was pleasantly surprised to see how thorough and inclusive the scrutiny process was, and I am really happy to see that HEC has picked the best talent of Pakistani for this golden opportunity.”
Director National Centre of Physics, Prof. Aslam Baig, said, “The purpose of these fellowships is to enhance PhD work in Pakistan, each one of which costs a hefty amount. I would request you to consider it as a loan and think about the ways of paying it back to your country.”
Awardees, their families, university faculty, and supervisors also attended the event.
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