Pakistan has stepped up efforts to expand international higher education opportunities for its talented youth, with Federal Minister for Education and Professional Training Dr Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui leading a high-level delegation to Georgetown University in Washington DC to seek a strategic partnership for the Pakistan Education Endowment Fund (PAK-EEF).
Education Minister Leads Pakistan’s Historic Outreach to Ivy League and Top US Universities
ISLAMABAD, Aug 26 (APP): Pakistan has stepped up efforts to expand international higher education opportunities for its talented youth, with Federal Minister for Education and Professional Training Dr Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui leading a high-level delegation to Georgetown University in Washington DC to seek a strategic partnership for the Pakistan Education Endowment Fund (PAK-EEF).
The delegation met Vice President for Global Engagement at Georgetown University Thomas Banchoff on August 25 as part of Pakistan’s ongoing US engagement mission aimed at securing partnerships with leading American universities for postgraduate and doctoral education.
The PAK-EEF is a government-backed initiative designed to enable academically meritorious Pakistani students to study at leading global universities irrespective of their financial circumstances. The government has secured PKR 1.5 billion for postgraduate education in strategic fields under the programme.
During the US mission, the delegation has held high-level meetings with officials at several prestigious institutions, including Columbia, Cornell, Princeton, Yale, Brown, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Harvard, Johns Hopkins and Georgetown universities.
Dr Siddiqui highlighted Pakistan’s young population, noting that around 65 per cent of the country’s population is below the age of 30. He said the government was committed to transforming this demographic potential into a source of skilled human capital by promoting education in STEM disciplines and other high-demand sectors of global importance.
The Pakistani delegation presented Georgetown University with a framework for bilateral cooperation based on shared investment in Pakistani talent.
Under the proposed co-investment model, PAK-EEF, which offers scholarships of up to $29,000 per student annually, would seek partial or full tuition fee waivers from QS-ranked universities for eligible PAK-EEF-sponsored students admitted to programmes aligned with Pakistan’s national priorities.
The proposal also envisages the establishment of a joint outreach platform to connect Pakistani students with world-class academic programmes and opportunities.
The government has identified seven priority areas for PAK-EEF scholarships: artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, data science, biotechnology, environment and climate change, agriculture, and public policy.
Ambassador of Pakistan to the United States Rizwan Saeed Sheikh reaffirmed the Embassy’s support for the initiative and its role in facilitating academic partnerships. He also expressed readiness to mobilise the Pakistani diaspora and community networks in the United States to develop a supplementary fund for PAK-EEF scholars studying at leading US universities.
Mr Banchoff warmly received the Pakistani delegation and acknowledged the importance of the initiative, according to an official press release.
The Georgetown engagement forms part of Pakistan’s broader effort to build institutional partnerships with leading US universities and create sustainable pathways for its brightest students to access advanced education in fields considered critical to the country’s future development.
