Dhaka: The Pakistan High Commission in Dhaka has clarified that Bangladeshi students who qualified for master's degree programmes at various universities in Pakistan under the Allama Iqbal Scholarships will receive equivalent financial support, although the modalities of disbursement may differ from those for undergraduate students. 'It is clarified that the modalities of disbursement for Masters students - which are being communicated to them - may differ from those of undergraduate students. However, all qualifying students under this programme would be provided with the equivalent financial support,' the High Commission said in a Facebook post on Thursday. According to United News of Bangladesh, the Scholarship programme is a key component of the Pakistan-Bangladesh Knowledge Corridor, a flagship initiative announced by DPM/FM Senator Muhammad Ishaq Dar during his visit to Dhaka in August 2025 to promote educational cooperation and people-to-people contact between Pakistan and Bangladesh. The High Commiss ion stated that the programme is successfully traversing towards its objectives, with 74 students joining top-ranking universities in Pakistan last year as part of the first batch. Out of more than 3000 students who appeared in the admission test for the second batch, 125 qualified for undergraduate programmes, 22 for Masters, and 14 for PhD. All of these students are expected to join their universities in Pakistan shortly after completing the necessary formalities. The High Commission expressed its commitment to strengthening cooperation with the brotherly nation of Bangladesh across all domains, including education and people-to-people exchanges. The clarification came amid complaints from some Bangladeshi Master's students who alleged that the scholarship benefits communicated to them after the selection process differed from those advertised initially. The scholarship advertisement had stated that the programme would cover full tuition fees, a monthly stipend, hostel charges, return air tickets, and a o ne-time allowance for settling at the institution where the students would be enrolled. However, after several months of the selection process, when the Master's students received emails seeking information for confirmation of admission, some of them discovered that the scholarship would cover only tuition fees and accommodation. Some students were also informed that accommodation would not be available to them. Some of the students alleged that they had been misled by the change in the stated benefits, with some even deciding not to go to Pakistan.
