Washington D.C., August 29, 2026: Federal Minister for Federal Education and Professional Training Dr Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui led a high-level Pakistani delegation to the headquarters of the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities (APLU) in Washington D.C. as part of Pakistan’s efforts to expand international academic opportunities for deserving Pakistani students.
The delegation met APLU President Dr Waded Cruzado and senior leadership to advance the Pakistan Fund for Education (PFE) / Pakistan Education Endowment Fund (PAK-EEF) initiative. The government-backed programme is aimed at enabling talented and deserving Pakistani scholars, particularly those from underserved communities, to pursue postgraduate education at leading universities in the United States.
APLU is one of the oldest higher education associations in the United States and represents more than 250 public research universities and land-grant institutions, with a combined enrolment of over five million students. A potential consortium-level partnership with APLU would provide Pakistan with a structured and scalable pathway for engaging multiple leading US public universities, instead of pursuing separate institutional agreements.
The Pakistani delegation included Federal Minister Dr Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui, Pakistan’s Ambassador to the United States Rizwan Saeed Sheikh, PAK-EEF Chief Executive Officer Syeda Hajra Suhail, PAK-EEF Chief Internal Auditor Faisal Shahzad, and Bilal Riaz, representative at the Embassy of Pakistan in the United States.
The delegation was received by APLU President Dr Waded Cruzado and Senior Vice President for Governmental Affairs Craig Lindwarm.
During the meeting, Dr Cruzado briefed the Pakistani delegation on APLU’s structure, membership and extensive reach across the US higher education sector. She highlighted the association’s strong representation of public research universities and land-grant institutions with expertise in agriculture, engineering, STEM, public health and other fields aligned with Pakistan’s academic and development priorities.
The APLU leadership also highlighted the association’s convening role, noting that consortium-level engagement could facilitate system-wide academic partnerships and create standardised pathways for international scholars across its member institutions.
Presenting the proposed partnership framework, PAK-EEF CEO Syeda Hajra Suhail outlined three key pillars of the initiative.
The first pillar focuses on equitable access for deserving scholars. Under this, PAK-EEF seeks to establish a sustainable pipeline for academically outstanding students from marginalised communities and underserved areas of Pakistan, selected through a rigorous merit-based national process.
The second pillar envisages a bilateral partnership framework under which participating APLU member universities could offer partial or full tuition fee waivers to PAK-EEF-sponsored students, while PAK-EEF could provide scholarship support of up to $29,000 per student per annum to meet the remaining financial requirements.
The third pillar involves a virtual outreach platform. Through its network of more than 300 universities and institutions across Pakistan, PAK-EEF would facilitate virtual sessions between Pakistani students and APLU member universities. These engagements would provide students with information on academic programmes, admission requirements and available scholarship opportunities.
The proposed initiative will initially focus on seven national priority sectors: Artificial Intelligence, Cybersecurity, Data Science, Biotechnology, Environment and Climate Change, Agriculture, and Public Policy and Economics.
Ambassador Rizwan Saeed Sheikh reaffirmed the Embassy of Pakistan’s commitment to facilitating the proposed partnership. He said the Embassy was ready to mobilise Pakistani diaspora and community networks in the United States to explore the establishment of a supplementary fund for PAK-EEF scholars studying at APLU member institutions.
The Ambassador also highlighted that academic arrangements had previously existed between Pakistan and universities and colleges in various US states. While some of these linkages have become dormant over time, he stressed the need to revive and strengthen them, particularly to expand opportunities for talented students from underserved communities. He assured that the Embassy would continue to serve as a diplomatic bridge for revitalising such academic linkages through APLU’s extensive network.
APLU leadership responded positively to the Pakistani delegation’s proposal and expressed strong interest in exploring a consortium-level partnership with PAK-EEF. The alignment between APLU’s commitment to access and equity in higher education and PAK-EEF’s mission of supporting deserving students from underserved communities was recognised as a strong foundation for future collaboration.
APLU also expressed willingness to share information on its member universities, colleges and partner institutions, particularly those with active international engagement programmes and academic strengths corresponding to PAK-EEF’s priority sectors. This would enable targeted outreach and facilitate the development of future institutional partnerships.
Dr Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui said Pakistan’s objective was to ensure that talent and financial circumstances do not become barriers to accessing world-class education.
He said the proposed engagement with APLU represented an important step towards creating a sustainable international academic pathway for Pakistan’s most deserving scholars.
“APLU’s convening power across more than 250 public universities is exactly the multiplier Pakistan needs. We are not here to knock on 250 doors individually — we are here to build one door that opens all of them for Pakistan’s most deserving young people,” the Federal Minister said.
The meeting marked an important step in Pakistan’s efforts to build international academic partnerships, expand access to world-class postgraduate education, and invest in the country’s most talented and deserving young scholars.
