HEC released Rs. 300 million in annual budget for new schemes and scholarships, total 1000 Scholarships will be offered to Pakistan and AJK nationals.
According to the departmental details, Higher Education Commission Pakistan has offered 1000 free scholarships under PhD indigenous fellowship program across the country willing students. The HEC scholarship will be based on indigenous and merit based.
According to the HEC annual budgetary documents, Rs 297.981 million has been reserved for strengthening and up gradation of the Universities of less developed areas of the country and Rs 300 million separately has been allocated for the several new schemes and Scholarships in budget 2016-17.
Initially, the disclosed advertisements shows HEC will conduct an eligibility HAT test under their supervision. After passing through the prescribed test the selected candidates would be given admissions in the local based universities recognized by the HEC. As per the commission’s website, there are around 180 recognized universities and Degree Awarding Institutions being functioned across the country including AJK.
The student having major in the following discipline are eligible to apply under the advertised invitation
- Engineering,
- Information Technology (IT)
- Agriculture and veterinary sciences
- Biological and Medical Sciences
- Physical Sciences
- Management Sciences,
- Business education
- Social Sciences
- Arts and humanities
Although, HEC did not mention the total number of available seats for scholarships at the time, as per HEC officials the total number of 1000 PhD scholarships are planned to be provided to Pakistani and AJK eligible students.
The official further said that “This figure is just for this Phase under the indigenous PhD fellowship program, many scholarships were being offered in different Phases”.
Eligibility Criteria
- Candidate must have a Pakistani or AJK nationality
- For MS/MPhil, the candidates must have minimum of 16 years of education with no 3rd division or Grade D in degree/certificate in the entire academic career
- Candidates applying for direct PhD scholarships must have minimum CGPA 3.0(out of 4.0 in the semester system) or first division (in the annual system) in MS/MPhil/ and an equivalent degree is required along with the condition mentioned above
- Maximum age at the closing date of application is 40 years for full-time regular faculty members of public sector university/DAIs and regular employee of the public sector/R&D organizations, while 35 is the maximum eligible age for all others
- The candidates who are already availing any other HEC/Government scholarship are NOT eligible to apply
- Applicants enrolled into PhD program before spring 2015 semester are NOT eligible.
Application Procedure
- If you are a new user, register yourself at HEC’s E-Portal or Sign in if already account holder.
- After signing in, click on “Scholarship and Grants” on the left and then on “Indigenous PhD Fellowship Program”. Follow the instructions given over there, fill in the application form and submit it.
- The deadline for application is January 31, 2017.