Study and Research Opportunities in Pakistan

Long and short-term academic programs are available in Pakistan across many universities and educational centers. International students and researchers may apply to BA, MA, Ph.D., and postdoctoral research programs in Pakistan. Moreover, summer schools and conferences are other excellent academic activities that make Pakistan an attractive destination for scholars and scientists. Many programs also come with fully-funded scholarships and fellowships as well as travel grants and financial aid, thus every student, researcher, and professor can always find a suitable program in Pakistan and apply.

Scholarships in Pakistan

Fellowships in Pakistan

Grants & Awards in Pakistan

Summer Programs in Pakistan

Pakistan as an academic destination

The Islamic Republic of Pakistan can be considered an attractive study abroad destination for international students for many reasons. 

  1. There are more than 170 universities in the territory of the country. Therefore, each student can find what they want. 
  2. The country includes around ten internationally ranked universities, which means students can gain an education and diploma that is competitive and acceptable in the EU or US. 
  3. As Pakistan, after all, is not as popular as the US, UK, Germany, or other top student destinations, the tuition fees and cost of living are not very high. 

You can study Urdu, but you are not obliged to

Urdu is the national language of Pakistan. However, you do not have to learn it to utilize all your academic opportunities in the country. All the academic activities, such as study programs, student conferences, consultations, etc., are conducted in English. Therefore, Pakistan is not a country where the language barrier can limit you from certain faculties or degree programs. 

The University of Punjab | The start of academic infrastructure

If you aim to explore the academic potential of Pakistan from scratch, consider the University of Punjab, the first educational institution in the country. It operates from far 1882 up to current, offering the students an opportunity to apply to 5 university campuses. 

Punjab University partially symbolizes Pakistan's war and struggle for independence, as it resulted from Punjab's people's strong will that they were able to found an independent university back then. 

PU was supporting the educational needs of the whole Indian continent until Pakistan became independent from England in 1947. Then, it gradually became a domestic university for locals and a study abroad destination for all the other nationals. Consequently, there appeared policies and approaches for both domestic and international students. 

Are there any internationally ranked universities in Pakistan?

Yes, there are. 

Around ten of Pakistan's universities are cited in global university rankings. That provides a wide choice for international students, though you might think ten ranked universities out of more than 170 ones is not the best indicator of the education system. 

The centralized role within the country's borders and in terms of international ranking positions has the National University of Science and Technology (NUST). The academic programs and vision of the university rotate over STEM, aiming to promote Pakistan's Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics. 

If you want to benefit from Pakistan's universities' cooperation with universities of other countries, Quaid-i-Azam University is a good choice. Particularly, the university has cooperations with the University of Tokyo and many of the US universities. 

The rankings of the country's third popular university are almost equal to the Quaid-i-Azam University's scores. Lahore University of Management Sciences is located in one of the country's most cultural and beautiful cities, Lahore. By looking at its ranking positions, you might think that the university is large with some hundred thousand students. Yet, Quaid-i-Azam University is one of the smallest ones in the country, the annual number of enrolled students of which do not reach 4000. 

If you look for other top-ranked universities in Pakistan, read the below list.

What budget should I plan for studying in Pakistan?

The introduction already contains that, but I would like to double remind you of the relatively cheaper costs of studies and living in Pakistan. 

Let's talk about the most popular NUST university fees to give you insight into the country's studying costs. For undergraduate studies, your annual tuition fee might comprise around 3,500 $ while the same for Master's degrees can reach up to 1,200 $ at most. Keep in mind that the mentioned cost does not include the semester fee, admission processing fee, and security deposit. 

It's no surprise that the most affordable staying option for international students is the university dormitory. In Pakistan, universities provide such accommodations, some of them for free and others in exchange for the monthly rent. However, compared to many other countries, the rents are not high. QS Rankings roughly estimates that around 200$ students will pay for the university dormitory and the same amount they will spend on food expenses. 

Research opportunities in Pakistan

Let's repeat again that country has 170+ universities. The vast majority of those universities offer Ph.D. and other research programs. Therefore, the choice of international researchers or scholars is more than wide in terms of choosing where they want to undertake research. 

However, the universities are not the country's only suggestion to researchers. There are very many independent research centers in the country, ready to either find your new findings on the dissertation topic or listen to the feedback to improve that process. 

Suppose you are interested in research activities in the health sphere. In that case, you might be interested in joining Pakistan Health Research Council's page, where you will see the available research projects at that very moment. 

The UH also offers you the list of the most popular research institutions in the country, which works in cooperation with the government to choose the topics they should fund. A quick check on the web of the research institutions will help you find which of them have an academic direction similar to that of yours. In our turn, we hope this section of ARMACAD will help you in that.