Daily Times

LAHORE: The European Union representative in Pakistan has said out of 3,000 scholarships funded for Asian students in 2016, only 57 of those came from Pakistan as compared to around 500 from India.

“This is remarkably less than could be expected, given the country’s size,” said Anne Kofoed, Teamlead Education and Governance, European Union Delegation to Pakistan during a workshop held at the University of Health Sciences (UHS) on Thursday.

The workshop was part of a series of workshops being organised by the European Union in Pakistan in collaboration with the Higher Education Commission (HEC).

The workshops are aimed at raising awareness about opportunities offered by the Erasmus Plus programme for Pakistani universities in order to encourage more applications.

Anne said that Erasmus Plus, the higher education programme of the European Union, was currently open for applications. She said that February 2 is the deadline for students of universities to participate in credit mobility and capacity building in higher education. Under credit mobility, short-term (3-12 months) scholarships to study in Europe are offered to students at bachelors, master or doctorate level or university staff.

She said that Erasmus Plus offered many opportunities for universities. “Although the scholarship part of the programme is well-known in Pakistan, the new parts focusing on inter-university cooperation and capacity building need further introduction”, she said, adding that capacity building projects could include curriculum development and modernisation, upgrading facilities and equipment, or improving university governance.

“In 2016, only one capacity building application, among 107 selected for Asian countries, involved Pakistan. We need to create more awareness about the opportunities the Erasmus Plus offers for Pakistani universities,” said Anne Kofoed.

Speaking on the occasion, UHS Registrar Dr Asad Zaheer thanked the EU delegation for financial aid opportunities provided to students through Erasmus Plus programme of the EU. He hoped more Pakistani scholars would avail the opportunities being provided by the European Union.

“Through the Erasmus Plus programme, higher education institutions can benefit from strategic improvement of the professional skills of their staff, organisational capacity building and creating cooperative partnerships with organisations from other countries in order to produce innovative outputs or exchange best practices,” Dr Asad added.