Tareen Oxford Scholarship launched for students of South Punjab

Islamabad:The Oxford Pakistan Programme (OPP) has announced the Tareen Oxford Scholarship, which will provide means-tested funding for Pakistani students, with a preference for talented students from South Punjab who have an admission offer for one of the eligible graduate courses offered at Kellogg College, University of Oxford, but do not possess the financial means to take up the offer, says a press release.

Preference will be given to the students for whom the scholarship will be a life changing opportunity and who have the potential and commitment to contribute to the development of South Punjab.

This scholarship will contribute towards tuition fees and living costs. The scholarship will be part of the OPP’s graduate scholarship programme through which at least three graduate scholarships are awarded every year to talented Pakistani and British Pakistani students.

The Tareen Oxford Scholarship is made possible by the generous support of Ali Tareen, an alumnus of Kellogg College, Oxford. This scholarship is designed to support deserving Pakistani scholars from South Punjab and increase their representation at the University of Oxford.

The scholarship will be established as a five-year programme, with funds being donated annually and being disbursed on a rolling basis. The Tareen Oxford Scholarship will be advertised by the OPP, Kellogg College, and the central University, as well as by the University’s constituent departments, and will be made available to prospective graduate students from across the University.

The Tareen Oxford Scholarship will play a crucial, foundational role in uplifting talented young scholars from South Punjab. South Punjab is one of the most underdeveloped regions in Pakistan. Most overseas scholarships are inaccessible to students from South Punjab.

The Tareen scholarship is one of the first scholarship initiatives targeted at students from South Punjab. The scholarship will not only benefit the awardees but also create a positive spillover in terms of raising aspirations of similar talented scholars in the communities from which Tareen scholars will be drawn from. It will also be a significant step towards creating a more diverse and inclusive academic community at Oxford.

To encourage talented students from South Punjab to apply to Oxford University and to benefit from the Tareen Oxford Scholarship, the OPP, in partnership with Ali Tareen, will organize a bespoke access programme for students from South Punjab. This programme will consist of two initiatives:

An access programme for final year students applying for graduate degrees, which will feature an Access Conference for final year students from South Punjab who are in the process of applying for M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees abroad. The top 20 attendees at the Access Conference will be offered one-on-one mentorship with an Oxford student or recent alumni, free of cost.

For F.Sc toppers & first-year public sector university toppers, 100 students will be selected from South Punjab who have either topped their F.Sc. boards or obtained the highest marks in their first year at university. These students will be provided mentorship on how to make the most of their next three to four years, guidance on career prospects, and one-on-one mentorship to help them aspire to be the best minds globally.

It is important to note that around 30 students from Pakistan receive graduate offers each year to study at Oxford, but do not have the funding to pursue the opportunity. Additionally, hundreds of other talented students do not apply to Oxford for the same reason. Pakistanis and British Pakistanis are the most underrepresented group at the graduate level in Oxford. 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. More information on the OPP can be found at https://ox­pakprogramme.org/.