The Scotland Pakistan Scholarships for Young women and Girls was first launched in 2013 with the aim to assist Pakistani women to pursue higher education. These young women are not only committed to improving their own futures but also contributing to the economic and social betterment.
These impactful scholarships have so far supported over 900 women to pursue education at Master’s, Bachelor’s and PhD levels in areas such as food security, education, health and STEM- all of critical importance to Pakistan.
In the 2020-21 cycle, British Council Pakistan received over 13,000 applications for Master’s and Bachelor’s’ combined. With shortlisting completed, 212 applicants from each stream have been nominated. Currently the interviews are in process and final selection is expected to be completed by end of December 2020.
Numerous aspiring women have made their dreams a reality through this scholarship. Farkhunda Farhan (from Mehran University of Engineering and Technology, Jamshoro) belongs to a rural area of Sindh, “Kunri”. She is a recipient of the Scotland Pakistan scholarship in the 2019-20 cycle. Currently she is enrolled in the third semester of Master of Engineering in electronic systems. Her husband is the only bread winner of the family and before this scholarship she was facing financial constraints in continuing her studies.
Farkhunda says: “I have always believed in quality education for women. Without them learned women, an educated nation cannot be built. The determination to acquire higher education became firmer within me after I became mother of two beautiful daughters”
There is no availability of any quality school in her region and she plans on building a quality school in the area. She also plans to do her research in Sustainable energy sector for her thesis work. Since Pakistan is presently facing a major energy crisis, she aims to find a solution to solve this issue so that the growing population can get uninterrupted supply of electricity or can produce energy from natural sources like solar, wind and water.