ISLAMABAD: The Higher Education Commission (HEC) has officially announced PhD scholarships for the 2027 intake under the Pak-US Knowledge Corridor program, offering Pakistani students a chance to study at top universities in the United States.
According to sources, these scholarships would be available for talented students of Pakistan and Azad Jammu & Kashmir interested in doing their PhD research at top 100 US universities on QS World Rankings.
It is pertinent to mention here that this program would be available only for pursuing PhDs, as there would be no funding for MS, MS leading to PhD or Master’s studies.
These scholarships would be divided into two categories depending on the university rankings; category 1 for the top 50 universities according to QS and category 2 for 51 to 100 ranking universities.
In case of category 1 scholarships, the students selected for the scheme would get full tuition fee waiver and a stipend of $19,200 per annum and $2,000 per annum for health insurance. Students need to have at least GRE General Score 300 or 60% in HEC HAT.
For Category 2, the scholarship includes tuition fee support of up to $12,000 annually, in addition to a $19,200 stipend and $2,000 health insurance coverage. The same GRE or HAT requirements apply.
Eligibility criteria state that applicants must have completed at least 16 years of education (BS, BSc, BE, or equivalent) with no third division throughout their academic career.
The age limit is set at 40 years for government employees, faculty members of public sector universities, and researchers from approved R&D organizations, while it is 35 years for all other applicants.
Candidates must not be receiving any other scholarship at the time of application.
HEC advised applicants to first secure admission in an approved discipline at a US university and then submit their applications through the official HEC online scholarship portal. Further details are available on the HEC website.
