ISLAMABAD, Pakistan: A total of 46,114 students are receiving Scholarships from the Higher Education Commission (HEC) in various disciplines, the Minister for Federal Education and Professional Training Shafqat Mahmood told the National.
Province-wise break-up of students receiving HEC Scholarships is as under:![](https://dnd.com.pk/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Province-wise-break-up-of-students-who-are-receiving-scholarships-from-HEC.jpg)
The minister for federal education further apprised the House that a total of 1,203 students completed PhD under project tilted “Indigenous 5,000 Scholarship Phase-I & II” during the last five years.
Shafqat Mahmood said that as per HEC Quality Assurance (QA) criteria defined for the duration of PhD program, minimum three years and maximum eight years are required for completion of PhD after MS/MPhil degree. He told that HEC vigorously monitor the progress of the scholars and ensure to complete the PhD degree of the scholars within provided PhD time limit.
The minister told that a total numbers of 549 students could not complete their PhD after lapse of five years; however, they have not crossed the limit of PhD duration as defined by HEC QA Division.
In addition, the minister also told that House that a total of 250 Scholarships were awarded to students from Balochistan under the project titled “Undergraduate Indigenous Scholarships for students of Balochistan and FATA Phase-II” during the year 2018-2019.