LOOKING for a scholarship can be tricky, especially when there are so many around and some are more specific than others. The UK government, together with numerous UK universities, have established some excellent scholarships for Pakistani students who want to study in the UK. Here are some of the best options…
Sheffield offers a huge amount of different scholarships for students from Pakistan. For undergraduates, there are two up for grabs – both of which are worth 50% of the annual undergraduate tuition fee. It’s guaranteed for the first year and is available for the following academic years, but not for years spent in industry or years abroad. For students to qualify for the scholarship after the first year, they have to achieve 60% or more in the previous academic year. The scholarship, which comes in the form of discounted tuition fees only, will be initially awarded on the basis of academic merit and the student’s supporting statement, with an academic panel making the final decision.
Pakistani students are eligible for the Commonwealth Shared Scholarship Scheme at the University of Birmingham, which works in tandem with UK Department for International Development (DFID) to be able to offer it. It’s for Master’s students only and is only open to students who are under the age of 30 and received a first class honours undergraduate degree. You are also only eligible if you study one of ten courses that apply – from MSc Clinical Oncology to MSc Human Resource Management. It lasts for a year and can’t be extended, but it does offer full tuition fees, air fare to and from the UK and accommodation costs.
Queen Mary University of London
Queen Mary University of London offers a lot of scholarships for Pakistani students. They range from the Pakistan Students Scholarship Fund, to the slightly more specific Pakistan Science Foundation. There’s also a possibility that students will be eligible for the The Punjab Educational Endowment Fund (PEEF), which rewards talented students and gives them a chance to study at a UK university.
Rather than offering their own scholarships, the University of Manchester directs potential Pakistani undergraduates to the Higher Education Commission Pakistan and the British Council, where there are plenty of different scholarships available. What’s more, the University of Manchester has an established reputation when it comes to taking Pakistani students: in the academic year of 2008/2009, it had 313 students studying a varied selection of subjects. One of the university’s nearby suburbs is famous for the so-called 'Curry Mile', which has the largest concentration of South Asian restaurants in the UK, so with a scholarship from the British Council of the HECP, Pakistani students can enjoy a multi-cultural setting.
The Charles Wallace Pakistan Trust
This UK-registered charity offers four programmes for supporting Pakistani students hoping to study in the United Kingdom. These are: Doctoral Bursaries, Reserved Visiting Fellowships, Open Visiting Fellowships and Visiting Artists. The idea is to use these four programmes to enable students to advance their professional development or doctoral studies in the United Kingdom, when they are normally resident in Pakistan. It’s a great way for students who are coming to the end of their studies and wish to continue progressing but don’t have the funds. The charity is committed to helping as much as possible, and administrative costs are kept to a minimum.
Find more scholarships to help fund your education at our Scholarships page.
