There is no dearth of outstanding scholars with leadership potential in Pakistan. The Career Services Office (CSO) at LUMS rightly supports the stance and organised an information session on Chevening Scholarship on Friday, October 21, 2016 on the campus.
Chevening is the UK government’s international awards scheme aimed at developing global leaders. It has around 46000 alumni, out of whom 1400 of them are from Pakistan. The Chevening Alumni Association of Pakistan works on different issues and concerns of the country related to UK.
An enthusiastic audience attentively listened to Ms. Shahla Qayyum, Head of Chevening Scholarships, Pakistan. Firstly, she briefly introduced the Chevening Scholarship and then discussed the eligibility criteria for the scholarship. Chevening require future leaders and value those who are influential, unique, have concrete networking skills and have a clear vision for future plans. Thus she emphasized the need of strong leadership skills, a 16 years of educational background and 2 years of work experience (or 2800 working hours including voluntary or part time work). Ms. Qayyum elaborated that candidates must apply to 3 different master courses in UK universities considering he or she is fulfilling the eligibility criteria and should have received an unconditional offer letter by July 13, 2017 from at least one of the course choices. Later on, after completion of the one year master’s degree, the candidate should return to Pakistan for a minimum of two years.
Ms. Qayyum also informed the audience about the application process for the Scholarship and also shared information about Chevening Fellowships for short courses in UK universities including South Asia Journalism Programme, British Library Fellowship and The Chevening/Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies (OCIS) Fellowship.
Later on, Mr. Hassan Shah, a Chevening Scholar, took the stage and further explained the eligibility criteria and the application process for the Chevening Scholarship Scheme. Mr. Shah shared his personal experiences and encouraged the students to apply.
Overall, the session was quite interactive and the participnts' enthusiasm shone through the questions raised as well as the detailed answers given by Mr. Shah.
