Pakistani students pose for a group photo during a scholarship award ceremony at the Chinese embassy in Islamabad, capital of Pakistan, Aug. 7, 2019. A total of 62 Pakistani students got fully-funded scholarship from the Chinese government to study in various top-ranking Chinese universities in their graduate, masters and doctor programs. (Xinhua/Ahmad Kamal)
ISLAMABAD, Aug. 7 (Xinhua) -- A total of 62 Pakistani students got fully-funded scholarship from the Chinese government to study in various top-ranking Chinese universities in their graduate, masters and doctor programs.
The Chinese embassy in Islamabad held a ceremony here on Wednesday to award the scholarships to the students selected by Pakistan's Higher Education Commission (HEC).
The scholarships are part of China's scholarship program to Pakistan, under which over 7,000 students are already studying in China in various disciplines.
In the latest scholarship program, over 1,000 students applied online and the HEC shortlisted over 60, who have been granted the scholarship, Muhammad Raza Chohan, academic director general at the HEC told Xinhua.
Chohan said that most of the students will study applied sciences in China.
Chohan added that the Pakistani students will act as ambassadors of Pakistan during their academic stay in China, and after coming back will act as a catalyst for socio-economic development in Pakistan.
More than 28,000 Pakistani students are studying in various programs in China currently, with over 7,000 under scholarship programs, according to the HEC record.
Most of the Pakistani alumni of Chinese universities are working at good positions in different universities, government offices, hospitals, and the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor projects, and other infrastructural projects running in the country, after coming back to Pakistan.
First Secretary of the Chinese Embassy to Pakistan Pan Yuqi, told Xinhua that Pakistan is striving hard to provide high quality education to its students for the promotion of knowledge-based economy, and it is the pleasure of China to help Pakistan move that way by providing education and training to the students.
"When they come back, I am sure they will play a great part in building Pakistan's economy," he added.
