Tareen Oxford Scholarship targets South Punjab for University of Oxford study

Tareen Oxford Scholarship targets South Punjab for University of Oxford study

New Tareen Oxford Scholarship targets South Punjab students for Oxford study. File photo

January, 12 2026

PESHAWAR (Web Desk): The Tareen Oxford Scholarship has been launched to support deserving South Punjab students admitted to University of Oxford.

The Oxford Pakistan Programme (OPP) has announced the Tareen Oxford Scholarship to help talented Pakistani students who have secured admission to eligible graduate courses at Kellogg College, University of Oxford. The scholarship focuses on students who lack financial resources to take up their offers.

Preference will be given to students from South Punjab for whom this support can be life changing. The programme also looks for candidates who show strong potential and commitment to contributing to the development of South Punjab in the future.

The scholarship will help cover tuition fees and living costs. It will become part of OPP’s graduate scholarship programme, under which at least three graduate scholarships are awarded every year to talented Pakistani and British Pakistani students.

This initiative is made possible through the support of Mr. Ali Tareen, an alumnus of Kellogg College, Oxford. The scholarship has been planned as a five-year programme, with funds donated every year and awarded on a rolling basis.

OPP, along with Kellogg College and Oxford University departments, will widely advertise the scholarship to reach eligible students across the university. The aim is to increase representation of South Punjab students at Oxford.

To further support applicants, OPP and Mr. Ali Tareen will run a special access programme for South Punjab students. This includes an access conference for final-year students applying for MSc and PhD programmes abroad, with the top 20 participants receiving free one-on-one mentorship from Oxford students or alumni.

Another initiative will select 100 top-performing FSc and first-year public sector university students from South Punjab. These students will receive career guidance, long-term mentoring, and support to help them aim for global academic excellence.

Each year, around 30 Pakistani students receive graduate offers from Oxford but cannot accept them due to funding issues. Many more never apply for the same reason. Pakistanis and British Pakistanis remain among the most underrepresented groups at Oxford’s graduate level, a gap OPP aims to address.

This scholarship targets a real problem faced by bright students who miss chances due to money. By focusing on South Punjab, it reaches an area often ignored in global education funding. The mentoring and access programmes may help students plan early and apply with confidence.