Islamabad, July 14, 2018 – Assistant Secretary for Educational and Cultural Affairs Marie Royce visited Islamabad July 11-13 to highlight the wide range of State Department education and exchange opportunities the U.S. Embassy offers to Pakistanis.

She met with Dr. Tariq Banuri, the chairman of the Pakistan Higher Education Commission, which is working to foster a culture of quality in Pakistan’s higher education sector through scholarly interaction among US and Pakistani faculty and administrators.  They also discussed the continuing educational partnership between the American and Pakistani governments, including the Fulbright Program.  Fulbright is the American government’s flagship academic exchange program, and, thanks to contributions by both the American and Pakistani governments, Pakistan’s program is contributing to greater capacity for cooperation and closer ties across all sectors of society.

The United States Educational Foundation administers the Fulbright Program in Pakistan, and Royce met with the organization’s executive director, Rita Akhtar.  The Assistant Secretary also spoke to 156 Pakistanis preparing to depart for the U.S., where they will pursue advanced studies and research in the Fulbright’s Master’s, PhD and Foreign Language Teaching Assistant programs.

She gave opening remarks to 210 accomplished alumni of U.S. exchange programs, including eight alumni from Afghanistan, at the Pakistan-U.S. Alumni Network international conference.

The U.S. Embassy’s Regional English Language Office sponsors numerous English-language initiatives for students and teachers, and Royce met participants at one of those programs:  a two-week workshop on teaching English for 40 female madrassa teachers from across Pakistan.

Royce also visited the Pakistan National Council for the Arts, where she met Executive Director Jamal Shah and learned about the work of some of Pakistan’s best-known artists.