Exchange Program

Exchange Program - 2015

There’s a great big world out there and the time to discover it is now. Experiencing a new culture can help you better understand yourself and the world around you.

An exchange program is an amazing opportunity to study abroad through semester-long, year or summer at a foreign university. Many Organizations offer an exchange of cultural, academic and work. The few big names include UGRAD, ERASMUS and AIESEC. Among them Global UGRAD is most popular.

The Global Undergraduate Exchange Program (also known as the Global UGRAD Program) provides one semester and academic year scholarships to outstanding undergraduate students combined with community service, internships and cultural enrichment. UGRAD is a merit-based competition. Every year UGRAD send approx. 250 students from all over the Pakistan to study for a semester at a university in the U.S.

Many students from NED enjoyed this opportunity, a few weeks ago, my friend Kundan Kumar (CE – Batch 11-12) returned from Saginaw Valley State University, US and another from Syracuse University, NY.  He stated, “This was the best experience I have had so far in my life. I know that everyone goes on, these trips hoping and wishing for different things; some just hope to have a good time but the majority wish (secretly) to change. May be a different version of themselves, may be a whole new person! I fall under the category of desiring to change, and I got along. Merely, as fate often has it, I did not change into the person that I imagined I would. I got much, much more of the person that I was. I would highly recommend this experience to anyone.”

Student exchanges can be a transformative learning experience. They expose students to another way of living, another culture and sometimes some other language. As students navigate their path through a novel environment, they hone their problems solving and managing skills, frequently resulting in increased independence and self-assurance. Unfamiliar situations or seemingly strange personal interactions give students the opportunity to develop their information gathering, critical thinking and problem-solving skills. Exchanges are also a time for self-reflection and, with proper steering, they not only broaden a students’ knowledge of the world but also they deepen their knowledge of themselves, their communities and their country.

The Global UGRAD program is advertised every year by October/November (please check: http://www.usefpakistan.org/Programs/GlobalUGrad.cfm). The application form is required to be submitted online. The whole procedure: How to apply and Eligibility Criteria is mentioned on the above link.

I highly encourage all F.E and S.E students to participate in the Global UGRAD program. Participation in an exchange program is not a one-time event, but the beginning of an exchange of ideas that continues throughout your life. For any further help you have to find me. Best of luck (Y).