THIS refers to the letters ‘HEC and its scholarship programmes’ by Ashfaque Soomro (June 26) and ‘HEC’s ambiguous ads’ by Ghulam Rashid Memon (June 30).

The Higher Education Commission has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Cambridge Commonwealth Trust under which five scholarships will be awarded to outstanding students of Pakistan for the University of Cambridge every year.

The University of Cambridge has a reputation of being one of the world’s best institutions of higher learning, and the Higher Education Commission would like the maximum number of Pakistani students to study at this university.

However, candidates need to meet certain criteria to be considered for admission to this prestigious university.

The Higher Education Commission advertised this unique opportunity like all its other scholarship programmesin explicit terms so that the best and brightest students in the country may avail themselves of this opportunity.

Therefore, anyone who fulfils the eligibility criteria can apply under the scholarship scheme. Thus, there should be no reason to believe that the scholarship is only for the privileged people of big cities.

JAVAID R. LAGHARIChairperson,Higher Education CommissionIslamabad