ISLAMABAD: A Senate special committee stated that the lack of coordination between government departments was a significant cause for lapse in foreign scholarships for Pakistani students.

The committee met on Friday to discuss an adjournment motion raised by Senator Mushahid Hussain Syed on the decline in foreign scholarships available to Pakistan students. The Senate chairman formed an eight-member special committee to deliberate over the issue and submit a report in two months.

In order to better understand the process, the Higher Education Commission (HEC), Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) and Economic Affairs Division (EAD) were invited.

The meeting was told that donor organisations offer 100 scholarships for students in the 57 Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) member states. Nominations are received through various sources, including the EAD and MFA, while some donor agencies also send nominations directly to the concerned embassies. These offers are then forwarded to the HEC, which each year, shortlists candidates and sends out no more than 27 nominations, out of which donors select four to five students based on their criteria. Donors prefer students from least developed countries (LDC).

The committee stated that in many cases, the HEC had delayed advertising scholarships, and other official procedures between the concerned departments added to the problem.

“Lack of coordination between government offices is obvious. Records show that from 2011 to 2015, there were delays in advertising positions due to the official procedures for information sharing between offices,” Syed Muzaffar Hussein Shah said.

HEC chairperson Mukhtar Ahmed maintained that there were never any delays. “There have been cases where the HEC advertised positions immediately, a day after it received invitations,” he said.

Senator Ayesha Farooq said: “It has not been clarified whether students received scholarships to universities in Cyprus, Egypt, Thailand and Morocco. We would like to know if the students got in or were refused.” The committee recommended that the Ministry of Federal Education and Professional Training be the focal body, since it is also mandated to enter into international agreements.

Published in Dawn, September 19th, 2015

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