Students who have the potential to significantly contribute to the development of South Punjab will be given preference when the scholarship is awarded on a means-tested basis.
The Oxford Pakistan Programme (OPP) recently announced the creation of the Tareen Oxford Scholarship, which will give Pakistani students financial support if they are unable to afford graduate study at Oxford.
The scholarship is designed to assist gifted South Punjabi students who have been accepted to one of the graduate programmes at Kellogg College, University of Oxford, that are eligible for it.
Students who have the potential to significantly contribute to the development of South Punjab will be given preference when the scholarship is awarded on a means-tested basis.
It will be a part of the graduate scholarship programme of the OPP and will pay for living expenses and tuition. Through this programme, at least three graduate scholarships are given to deserving Pakistani and British Pakistani students each year.
Ali Tareen, an alumnus of Oxford’s Kellogg College, has donated generously in order to make the Tareen Oxford Scholarship possible. A five-year programme with annual donations and rolling distribution of funds supports the scholarship.
The OPP, Kellogg College, the central University, as well as the University’s constituent departments, will all promote the scholarship. Prospective graduate students from across the University will have access to it.
Since South Punjab is one of Pakistan’s least developed regions, students from there typically cannot apply for international scholarships. One of the first scholarship programmes that specifically targets students from South Punjab is the Tareen Oxford Scholarship.
Along with helping the recipients, the scholarship will have a positive effect on the aspirations of other gifted students in the neighbourhoods where Tareen scholars will be recruited.
The scholarship will also be a big step in making Oxford’s academic community more inclusive and diverse.
The OPP, in collaboration with Ali Tareen, will set up a special access programme for students from South Punjab in order to encourage gifted students from that region to apply to Oxford University and receive the Tareen Oxford Scholarship. Two projects will make up this programme:
An access programme for final-year students seeking graduate degrees will include an access conference for South Punjab final-year students pursuing M.Sc. and Ph.D. applications abroad.
The top 20 Access Conference attendees will receive complimentary one-on-one mentoring with an Oxford student or recent alumnus.
100 students from South Punjab will be chosen for the F.Sc. toppers and first-year public sector university toppers programmes. These students must have either topped their F.Sc. boards or received the highest grades during their first year of college.
These students will receive mentoring on how to maximise their upcoming three to four years, advice on potential careers, and one-on-one mentoring to support their aspirations to be the best minds on the planet.
It is important to note that only about 30 students from Pakistan receive graduate offers each year to study at Oxford, but they are unable to take advantage of the opportunity due to financial constraints.
Hundreds of other gifted students also decide against applying to Oxford for the same reason. At the graduate level at Oxford, Pakistanis and British Pakistanis are the most underrepresented group.
The OPP is the first of its kind initiative at the University of Oxford, which is addressing this underrepresentation of Pakistani-origin students at Oxford and providing support for Pakistan-related academic activity at the University.