The Government of Japan has awarded MEXT (Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology of Japan) research & undergraduate scholarships for masters/doctorate and bachelor’s degrees for the year 2018 to eleven (11) students of Pakistan aiming to provide them with an opportunity to pursue higher studies in their respective fields at the leading public sector universities in Japan.
The Embassy of Japan on Sunday organised a pre-departure orientation for the scholarship grantees who will shortly leave for Japan to undertake their higher studies. Pakistani alumni of the Japanese universities were also invited at the orientation who shared their knowledge and experience of studying and living in Japan with the young scholarship grantees.
Takashi Harada, Charge d’Affaires ad interim of Japan to Pakistan, later in the evening hosted a reception to bid farewell to the scholarship grantees. Harada congratulated the scholarship recipients and expressed his hope that they would come back to Pakistan to utilize the knowledge and expertise acquired in Japan for future development of Pakistan. Mr. Harada hoped that these students would become bridges of friendship between Pakistan and Japan.
Japan’s MEXT research scholarship programme was launched in 1954 while MEXT undergraduate scholarships were introduced in 1958 in Pakistan.
South Asia Federation of Japanese Universities Alumni Associations (SAFJUAA) was hosted by MEXT Alumni Association of Pakistan (MAAP) this year, where delegates from Nepal and Sri Lanka participated in the two-day conference. A Japanese language speech contest was also held in which participants from Pakistan, Nepal, and Sri Lanka took part. Harada awarded certificates to the participants and also invited SAFJUAA delegates, and Japanese speech participants to the reception.