KARACHI, March 11: The Higher Education Commission (HEC) has announced Indigenous PhD fellowships for the academic year 2008-09 in all areas of studies.

Under the scheme, students will be eligible for the HEC scholarship to study in all those universities and degree-awarding institutions who have had adopted the HEC Quality Assurance Criteria for MPhil/PhD level studies.

The priority areas for research include engineering sciences, pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, information technology, basic sciences, agricultural sciences, health sciences, social sciences and humanities.

However, the scholarships are not restricted to any specified area and may also be awarded to scholars who wish to conduct research in any area not specified in the programme.

The selected scholars will initially be enrolled in the respective MPhil / MS programmes at the universities and will subsequently become PhD scholars.

The basic eligibility criterion includes a minimum of 16 years of education and no 3rd division or Grade D in the entire academic career. The applicant must not be availing any other scholarship and the maximum age limit is 35 years, however, for people working on a regular basis in the public sector organisations the age limit is 40.—PPI