The special cell established at the Higher Education Commission (HEC) to help students regarding scholarships has contributed greatly towards better student facilitation and effective liaison between commission and the foreign missions in Pakistan. The Ministry of Federal Education and Professional Training had established a special cell ‘Learning Opportunities Abroad’ at the HEC. The main objective of the scholarship cell is to process and advertise all international scholarship opportunities available for Pakistani students in various institutions of the world, through the HEC website www.hec.gov.pk. As per arrangement, the cell not only disseminates information for Pakistani students but also helps foreign missions and institutions in picking up suitable candidates fulfilling all eligibility requirements of respective institutions in the host countries. In this regard the HEC had requested all foreign missions in Pakistan to share with them details of all ongoing scholarship programmes in their respective countries where Pakistani students were eligible to apply and compete. The HEC undertook the initiative with a view to developing and strengthening skilled resource development with special focus on enhancing the human resource capital of the country. It may be mentioned here that the HEC, working for over 204 universities of Pakistan, has so far awarded 9,000 overseas scholarships to Pakistani students. According to an official at the education ministry, challenges before the HEC are huge as 45 million young people between the ages of 17 to 25 years should have access to quality higher education. HEC scholarship cell is contributing towards this end effectively and it will continue to do so for materialization of these opportunities besides developing the higher education sector of the country, he said. The foreign missions can surely augment HEC efforts in this regard by cultivating stronger and deeper educational links and using HEC platform for disseminating information about scholarships and related initiatives, he stressed.