The United States Educational Foundation in Pakistan (USEFP) on Friday rejected rumours regarding the termination of the long-standing Fulbright scholarship programme — which has given scores of talented Pakistani students the opportunity to study at top US universities over the years.
On Tuesday, a formal announcement regarding the closure of the Global Undergraduate Exchange (Global UGRAD) Pakistan Programme — which had been going for around 15 years — came as a blow to the ambitions of scores of Pakistani students, who would have benefitted from spending a semester in top US colleges and universities.
Long seen as the crown jewel of US-Pakistan exchanges, the Fulbright programme has been in limbo since February, when the US State Department abruptly suspended all cultural and academic exchanges administered by its Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA).
The scholarship usually covers travel, living stipends, health insurance, and tuition for a student’s entire study period.
Initially described as a temporary 15-day freeze, the suspension remains in place more than two months later, with no official explanation or timeline for resumption.
The Institute of International Education (IIE), which administers the Fulbright Programme and other ECA-managed scholarships and fellowships, had indicated last month that their employees were being furloughed.
Recent communications sent to Fulbright scholars currently in the US have also indicated that the payment of their stipends would be affected by the State Department’s funding ‘pause’.
Following press reports and public concern expressed about the termination of the Global UGRAD Pakistan Programme, the USEFP said today it wanted to “offer a few points of clarification”.
“A number of US government-funded exchange programmes remain in place and are available to Pakistanis, including the Fulbright Programme. Fulbright participants in the US continue to receive their stipends. Assertions that the Fulbright Programme has been terminated or that students will be left stranded in the US are false,” it said.
