LAHORE: The Punjab Higher Education Commission (PHEC) has so far awarded 122 international travel grants to scholars of the province for presenting their research work at various international conferences. This was stated by PHEC Academics and Research Director Sidra Maqsood during the 9th meeting of the International Travel Grant Reviewing Committee held at the PHEC Secretariat, Lahore. The meeting was chaired by PHEC Chairman Prof Dr Mohammad Nizamuddin, while Government College University (GCU) VC Prof Dr Hassan Amir Shah, Prof Dr M Zakariya Zakar of the Punjab University, Lahore School of Economics (LSE) Rector Prof Dr Shahid Amjad Chaudhry, Dr Shahid Soroya and PHEC Director (A&R) Sidra Maqsood participated in the meeting. Talking to the committee members, the PHEC chairman reiterated his resolve to uplift the standards and quality of higher education and research in the province by facilitating students of public and private sector universities and public sector colleges with international scholarships and grants in their respective fields. “We encourage students to learn the modern, innovative and up-to-date knowledge in their fields through their exposure to such venues where they can present their work and interact with the global scholars,” said the chairman. “The PHEC is working towards development of research culture in Punjab, as it is imperative that our faculty members and PhD scholars engage in intellectual analytical work and then share the newly-gained knowledge and experience with others.” He added, “The PHEC offers international travel grant to public and private sector universities and public sector colleges of the province to facilitate participation of faculty members, non-teaching staff and PhD scholar in international conferences.” The applications are evaluated on a variety of parameters such as scope of the conference, repute of the organisers, professional standing of invited keynote speakers, relevance of the conference with the applicant’s professional career, relevance of the paper with current job and research/publication track of the applicant in peer reviewed journals, he explained. He said that the grant was awarded purely on merit, which covers registration fee, airfare, accommodation charges and daily living expenditures up to a specified limit. “70 percent of the awarded money is granted in advance prior to participation in the event in order to make the arrangements smoothly.” Concluding the meeting, the chairperson said, “We are more committed to bringing quality rather than the quantity in higher education sector. Our goal is to bring the institutions of higher education at par with the international standards.”