Rising Leaders, Embassy Interns Participate in Video Conference with Students from Pakistan

The U.S State Department organized a video conference to address the questions Pakistani students had concerning coming to the U.S for higher education. This meeting included Ms. Grace Clark, the Executive Director of the Fulbright Commission in Pakistan and Mr. Philip R. Ives from the U.S. State Department’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. Program Director of Rising Leaders, Aisha Chapra and Embassy intern, Zeeshan Agha were part of the panel at the State Department that participated in the video conference.

At the American Center in Lahore, close to 100 students were gathered with prepared questions for the panel at the U.S State Department. The main goal of the videoconference was to encourage Pakistani students to apply to American universities. The students were also informed of Ms. Clark’s high degree of involvement in bringing Pakistani students to the U.S for higher education, and that the Fulbright commission plans to extend 100 scholarships to Pakistani students within the next few months. (For more information on the Fulbright scholarships visit www.cies.org/visiting_specialists.)

It is expected that such video conferences with other students from around Pakistan (Islamabad, Karachi, and Quetta) would be planned by the State Department. Rising Leaders and the Embassy Interns will participate in them and share their experiences with the Pakistani students desirous of pursuing higher education in the U.S.

Washington D.C February 11, 2005