Punjab University Vice-Chancellor Prof Dr Mujahid Kamran has announced that Rs 20 million in financial assistance will be provided to university students under the Student Advancement Endowment Fund.
He was addressing a workshop on Student Advancement Endowment Fund and Student Start-Up Business Centre (SSBC) organised by the PU Faculty of Education, Higher Education Commission and Promotion of Education in Pakistan (PEP) INC, New York on Saturday.
Dr Kamran said PU was already financing students with Rs 70 million and the additional Rs 20 million will be allocated from the university’s returns on its investment of Rs 4 billion.
PEP Foundation President Dr Khalid Iqbal said the purpose of the Student Advancement Endowment Fund (SAEF) was to make higher education accessible to needy students, enhance their experience and make universities more competitive.
He said the fund could be established through a non-profit organisation for supporting the SAEF or under the umbrella of the university or college.
He said the PEP Foundation had already established SAEF at PU, GCU, UET, GCU Faisalabad and BNU Lahore.
Iqbal said each beneficiary could sign an honourary agreement to return the scholarship amount voluntarily to SAEF within 10 years of gainful employment, which would provide funds for future scholarship programmes.
He said the SSBC would promote students’ start-up businesses and offer technical and financial support.
Former Foreign and Finance minister and Beaconhouse National University Vice-Chancellor Sartaj Aziz said the BNU Student Fund was a part of their overall scholarship programme and that interest-free loans and partial scholarships were also being provided under the scheme.
Forman Christian College Rector Prof Dr Peter Armacost also talked about the Student Endowment Fund.
Lahore College for Women University Vice-Chancellor Prof Dr Sabeha Mansoor spoke about the right fundraising techniques and said universities were under immense financial pressure.
She said that it was very difficult for women to return educational loans as many got married after receiving an education.
Afaque Ahmed from the Education Enrichment Foundation Karachi, talked about student entrepreneurship via mentor programmes while ITC-ILO consultant Sadaf Abid gave presentation on their product ‘Know about Business (KAB): Training Students in Entrepreneurship’.
In his concluding remarks, PU Faculty of Education Dean Prof Dr Hafiz Muhammad Iqbal said because of the initiatives taken by the HEC, higher education enrollment had increased by 1588 percent. He lauded the efforts being made for the establishment of SAEF at educational institutions.
Islamia University Bahawalpur Vice-Chancellor Prof Dr Muhammad Mukhtar, University of Gujrat Vice-Chancellor Prof Dr Nizam-uddin, Dur-e-Shehwar from the Higher Education Commission and many others from various public and private sector institutions also participated in the workshop.
