Govt Awards 138,000 Ehsaas Undergraduate Scholarships in 2 Years

As many as 138,000 Ehsaas Undergraduate Scholarships have been awarded to Pakistani students enrolled in four-to-five-year degree programs in 129 public sector universities in two years.

According to details, the 10th steering committee meeting of the Ehsaas Undergraduate Scholarship project took place at the Higher Education Commission (HEC) Secretariat on Monday. Special Assistant to the Prime Minister, Dr. Sania Nishtar, and Chairman HEC, Dr. Tariq Banuri, co-chaired the meeting.

The assessment covered 35 public sector universities across all four provinces and Islamabad Capital Territory. It gauged the eligibility criteria for the selection of students by the respective Institutional Scholarship Award Committees of the universities. They held detailed deliberations on the findings of the study.

The meeting participants discussed policy questions, financial impacts, sustainability features, and refinements needed, considering the said assessment study conducted under the Ehsaas umbrella.

The study revealed that the program provided a level playing field for students from low-income households nationwide. Students with a monthly family income below the threshold of Rs. 45,000 were eligible to apply, and scholarships were given out based on a need-cum-merit basis. Fifty percent of the scholarships are reserved for girls.

The results of the study also highlighted the need for categorization of universities based on their performance under Ehsaas Undergraduate Scholarship project. Members of the committee also discussed capacity-building plans for universities with weak compliance systems.

“Our priority is to draw on findings of the study and to refine systems for effective execution of Ehsaas Undergraduate Scholarship project,” said Dr. Sania. She also thanked the Ehsaas and HEC teams for their collaborative efforts in conducting the assessment study.

Lauding the quality of the program, Chairman HEC commented, “Ehsaas Undergraduate Scholarship is one of the landmark projects of the federal government to support the higher education of low-income students.”

The scholarship award process for the current financial year was also discussed under which 122,744 applications have been received through the online portal.

The meeting adjourned with the decision that the next steering committee meeting will be convened next month. It was also agreed that Vice Chancellors’ Conference will be held after a month.