Two students from COMSATS, LUMS win 2027 Rhodes Scholarships
Hafsa Qureshi will study genomic medicine and Rafia Imran social data science at Oxford, after a round in which fewer than 1% of applicants were selected.
Two Pakistani students have been awarded the Rhodes Scholarships for Pakistan for 2027 and will begin postgraduate study at the University of Oxford in October 2027.
Hafsa Qureshi of COMSATS University Islamabad has been selected to read Genomic Medicine, while Rafia Imran of Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS) will take up Social Data Science, according to Business Recorder, which first reported the selection. UrduPoint also carried news of the award. The two will join more than 100 Rhodes Scholars chosen from around the world that year.
Business Recorder reported that applications more than doubled this year and that fewer than one in 100 applicants was selected, making the competition among the most selective scholarship processes in the country. Ten finalists (from Adelphi University, Bard College, COMSATS, LUMS and Quaid-i-Azam University) reached the interview stage after a review of applications, and were questioned by a committee of academics and leaders from various fields.
The field was drawn from Pakistani students at universities inside the country and abroad.
Professor Ali Cheema, National Secretary for the Rhodes Scholarships in Pakistan, said the quality and diversity of this year's applicants reflected the depth of talent among young Pakistanis. He said the sharp rise in applications was encouraging, and that the task was to make sure talented students from every background and every institution had the opportunity to compete.
According to the report, recent Pakistani recipients of the scholarship have included graduates of Harvard, LUMS, NYU Abu Dhabi, UET Lahore, Wellesley College and Yale.
The award funds graduate study at Oxford, and the 2027 cohort will take up their places at the university next October.
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