HEC scholarships – Pakistan

In 2006 The University of Auckland entered into an agreement with the Pakistan Higher Education Commission (HEC), recognising the value of enhancing educational links and opportunities. This agreement is designed to foster co-operation between the two institutions, and to enable groups of selected candidates from universities, colleges and research and development organisations in Pakistan to undertake postgraduate studies at The University of Auckland.

The University offers admission to specified programmes of study to HEC scholarship candidates selected and approved under the HEC Overseas Scholarships for Masters leading to PhD and PhD in Selected Fields scheme. The University programmes of study are:

• Doctor of Philosophy
• Master (or other approved non Doctoral Postgraduate programme) for the purposes of bridging to PhD, as required.

The regulations for the programmes of study are detailed in The University of Auckland Calendar.
The HEC Scholarships cover tuition fees, living costs and health insurance for up to four years of PhD study and airfares for HEC students to travel to New Zealand to commence the programme of study and travel back to Pakistan upon completion of their studies.
 

Prospective HEC Scholarship Students
Services and Information for Current HEC Scholarship Students

Memorandum of understanding

Contract Education, a division of Auckland UniServices Ltd, is overseeing the formal Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) arrangements for the Pakistan HEC Scholarship Project. The division negotiated the terms of the MOU on behalf of the University, and is managing the foreign exchange billings, and the financials for the project which involve the collection of additional support costs, and the student stipends.
The University of Auckland provides coordinated support and assistance to the groups of candidates in matters related to enrolment, arrival arrangements, accommodation, orientation and pastoral and academic support.
 

Two phases of students

The majority of HEC scholarship students will be enrolled in a doctoral programme, with the Masters to PhD bridging course being another option, as per the requirements of individual students.
As the interviews are only held once a year, successful candidates tend to arrive in “phases”. At present, there are two phases of HEC Scholarship students at the University.
 

Phase I

Phase I consisted of more than 40 students who were awarded scholarships following a process of assessment by the faculties, interviews in Pakistan conducted in October 2006, and final approval of their application for registration by The University of Auckland. Over 30 Phase I students have already arrived in New Zealand and commenced their studies.

Phase II

Phase II has been divided into two “rounds”. For the first of these rounds (Round 1), the HEC made 73 scholarships available. An initial 250 students were short-listed for interviews, which took place in Islamabad in May, 2007. Subsequent to the interviews, The University of Auckland recommended a number of students towards the HEC, who made the final decision as to the award of available scholarships. The Phase 2 Round 1 scholarship recipients who met University entry requirements for their intended programme of study and successfully completed the required University application and registration process started arriving in October 2007. At present, there are 29 Phase II Round 1 students enrolled at the University.

Interviews for Phase II, Round 2 were held in March 2008 by video conference at The University of Auckland. From the 289 prospective candidates interviewed, 27 received final approval. Students from this round started arriving in 2009 with the remaining expected to commence their studies in 2010.

In total, there are currently over 70 HEC Scholarship students studying at the University.