press releases
USAID Honors 50 Merit And Need-Based Scholarship Students Attending The Institute Of Management Sciences, Peshawar
12/06/2006
Peshawar - U.S. Ambassador Ryan C. Crocker today honored fifty students who have been awarded scholarships to attend the Institute of Management Science in Peshawar, a leading business school in the North West Frontier Province (NWFP). The scholarships were awarded under the U.S. Agency for International Development’s merit and need-based scholarship program.
USAID has long supported higher education in Pakistan, helping develop a cadre of expertise and leadership in the areas of civil service, education, civil society, and business. In addition to the IMS in Peshawar, Lahore University of Management Sciences and the Institute of Business Administration in Karachi have received extensive support from USAID and the U.S. Government over the years.
Although Pakistan has several world class business schools and the potential to produce internationally competitive MBAs, the social and economic cost of attending these institutions are beyond the reach of some students, especially women. In partnership with the Government of Pakistan, USAID currently provides both merit and need-based scholarships, expanding access to high quality education for deserving students.
To enable the qualified Pakistani students to continue university studies, USAID is working in partnership with the Government of Pakistan’s Higher Education Commission (HEC) to award nationwide 1,000 merit and need-based scholarships for a two year masters and four-year bachelor program in Agriculture and Business studies in 11 participating universities all over Pakistan.
Since July 2004, the HEC has approved 784 scholarships (480 for studies in agriculture, 304 in business administration), including an additional 32 scholarships for students from the earthquake areas.
Overall, the United States, through USAID, is providing more than $1.5 billion in development assistance to Pakistan over the next five years to improve education, health, governance, and economic growth. In addition, the United States has pledged a total of $510 million in earthquake relief and reconstruction efforts to assist the people of Pakistan and to support Pakistani government in relief and reconstruction efforts.