Chinese embassy announces 100 scholarships for UoP students

PESHAWAR: Officials of the Chinese embassy have announced 100 scholarships for University of Peshawar students during their visit to the campus on Wednesday.

The delegation, led by Cultural Counsellar Jiang and First Secretary Pan Yuqi, met UoP Vice-Chancellor Prof Dr Muhammad Asif Khan along with pro-Vice Chancellor and Director China Study Centre Prof Dr Zahid Anwer. The scholarships will be given in the form of annual expenditure stipends to the deserving students. The Chinese embassy had given Rs 2 million worth of scholarships to UoP last year, covering the expenses of around 40 students. The both sides agreed to foster cooperation for the establishment of a Confucius Centre at the university and Chinese officials pointed out to further extending it to other cities from the mainstay centre at the university. Prof Dr Muhammad Asif Khan asked the Chinese officials to extend their technological support to upcoming Centre for Mathematical Sciences at the university. “I think artificial intelligence, computational skills and data-based knowledge would be greatly boosted by Chinese universities expertise in the field,” he added. They also agreed to work on a joint centre of Earth Sciences, Silk Road centres’ promotion and cooperation on museums. Later, the Chinese officials visited SSAQ Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology where curator Dr Zakirullah Jan gave them a presentation on artefacts. On the second stretch of their visit, the delegates were shown Centre Resource Laboratory where they evinced interest in the application side of the equipment.