Image by TJ Pirzada

An initiative to promote more inclusivity and address under-representation of Pakistani and British Pakistani students was launched last week at the Lady Margaret Hall (LMH) of the University of Oxford.

The Oxford Pakistan Programme (OPP) took place in the presence of senior academics, administrators and some esteemed guests including Pakistani education promoter and Nobel laureate Malala Yousafzai, Pakistani High Commissioner to UK Moazzam Ali Khan, Pakistani American entrepreneur Sohaib Abbasi and lawmakers Naz Shah and Yasmin Qureshi.

It has been confirmed that an amount of £1 million has been raised to fund initiatives for the next five years which includes providing scholarships to Pakistani-origin graduate students at Oxford. This will help at least 20 students from Pakistan to study at the world’s most renowned university every year.

Pakistan’s new Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, who is an Oxford alumnus, hailed the programme as “a pioneering effort to advance academic access and engagement.”