ISLAMABAD, June 26: The Higher Education Commission (HEC) on Monday bid farewell to 147 students who would proceed to France for doing their PhDs in different disciplines. French Ambassador Rigis de Belenet was chief guest at the ceremony.

The students would be spending four years in France to complete their studies in engineering and technology, life sciences, social sciences and business administration under HEC’s foreign scholarship scheme.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr Belenet congratulated the students and said Pakistan and France were partner countries in many sectors and this collaboration would continue to grow in the coming years.

“Every year since 2000, the number of Pakistani students leaving for France has increased. These students would be strengthening relations between the two countries. When these students go to France, they become ambassadors of Pakistan and after completing their studies when they will be coming back to Pakistan they will become French ambassadors.”

Mr Belenet appreciated the efforts being made by the HEC to improve the quality of education and bring its standards at par with the education imparted at the international level.

Dr Mukhtar Ahmad, member operations and planning at the HEC, thanked the government of France and the French embassy in Islamabad for their cooperation.

He said 100 students were already studying in different universities under the HEC’s scheme. He said the new batch would be leaving for France on June 27 and 29.

Dr Mukhtar advised the departing students to fully utilise their stay at France. “You must keep in mind that you people are the future of this nation so you should work hard and come back to serve this nation,” he stressed.

At the end, the chief guest distributed certificates among those students who performed well in the French language course. They were Faraz Zaidi, Syed Tahir Qasim and Zaigham Shahzad.