Chevening and Allied Bank launch fully funded UK master’s scholarships for Pakistani students
The Chevening programme and Allied Bank Limited will fund two Pakistani scholars a year for three academic years from 2027-28, covering fully funded one-year master’s degrees at UK universities in fields including AI, cybersecurity and economics.
Pakistani students will have a new route to fully funded master's study in the United Kingdom after the UK government's Chevening programme and Allied Bank Limited (ABL) launched a scholarship partnership, according to reports of a statement issued by the British High Commission and carried by The Express Tribune, Business Recorder and other outlets on 3 and 4 November 2026.
Under the Chevening-ABL Scholarship programme, two Pakistani scholars will be supported each year over three academic years, starting in 2027-28, giving six scholarships in total. The scholars will pursue one-year master's degrees at leading UK universities, with the awards described as fully funded, covering tuition fees, living costs and travel under the normal Chevening model.
The partnership is notable for a first: Allied Bank has become the first Pakistani organisation to establish a locally funded Chevening scholarship partnership, bringing together the UK's flagship international scholarship programme and Pakistan's private sector to invest in the next generation of Pakistani leaders.
Chevening itself is the UK government's international scholarship programme, funded by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office and partner organisations. Since 1983 it has offered fully funded one-year master's degrees at UK universities, and it now partners with more than 140 organisations worldwide, including private companies, non-governmental organisations, foreign government departments and UK universities.
The new scholarships will focus on subjects linked to Pakistan's future economic growth and technological development. According to the British High Commission statement, the priority fields are artificial intelligence, technology, cybersecurity, digital transformation, economics and financial inclusion, a list that reflects both Pakistan's skills gaps and the sectors where UK universities are strongest.
The first two Chevening-ABL scholars will be selected from the existing applicant pool for the 2027-28 academic year, rather than through a separate application round. That means students who have already applied to Chevening for 2027-28 entry could find themselves considered for the new awards without needing to submit a second application.
For later years, the timetable is already set out. Applications for the 2028-29 Chevening-ABL scholarships are expected to open as part of the Chevening application cycle in August 2027, with successful candidates beginning their studies in the UK in 2028. The reports do not give a monetary value for each award, nor a date for the selection of the first two scholars, and they give no eligibility criteria specific to the partnership beyond the standard Chevening requirements.
Those standard requirements, as described in the coverage, include Pakistani citizenship and an undergraduate degree suitable for admission to a UK master's programme. Applicants are directed to the official Chevening website, where Pakistan is listed as an eligible country, and where the application process and deadlines for the main programme are set out in full.
The announcement comes at a time when demand for overseas study among Pakistani graduates remains high, even as visa rules, currency pressures and the cost of living abroad make fully funded awards more valuable than ever. A scholarship that covers tuition, travel and living costs removes the largest barriers in one stroke, and the focus on technology and economics suggests the programme is designed to produce graduates who can return and work in sectors central to Pakistan's development.
What happens next will be watched closely by applicants. The first test of the partnership will be the selection of its inaugural two scholars from the current pool, and the second will be the August 2027 application round, when the programme opens to a new cohort. If it runs its full three-year course as announced, six Pakistani students will have studied in the UK on Chevening-ABL funding by the end of the decade, a small number in absolute terms, but a meaningful new bridge between Pakistan's private sector and Britain's universities.
