55 to receive Prime Minister’s Fellowship

Prime minister Sheikh Hasina

As many as 55 scholars from different sectors are set to receive Prime Minister’s Fellowship in the first phase of 2021-22 session under a project titled “Strengthening the Capacity of Public Administration for Achieving SDGs”.

Forty candidates are entitled to the scholarship for pursuing masters while 15 for PhD at globally top-ranking universities, said a gazette issued on Thursday.

To claim the scholarship, each applicant at first must secure, by their own capacity, admission to one of the 100 highest-ranking universities around the world.

Once the admission is confirmed, only then one can apply for the scholarship under the Governance Innovation Unit (GIU) of the prime minister’s office, reports BSS.

Meanwhile, prime minister's special assistant lawyer Shah Ali Farhad has been awarded a "Prime Minister's Fellowship" for studying the Master of Public Policy (MPP) at the Blavatnik School of Government, University of Oxford.

"I am grateful to the GIU for awarding me the fellowship," he said on Thursday, adding that it is the fulfillment of his lifelong dream to study at Oxford.

Farhad extended his gratitude to his leader prime minister Sheikh Hasina, saying, "It had been an absolute privilege to serve her for the last two and a half years."

Farhad also said he is eternally grateful to his guides and mentors Sajeeb Wazed Joy and Radwan Mujib Siddiq for always encouraging him to constantly improve and be the "best version of me".

He was appointed as a special assistant to the prime minister on 23 January 2019. Before this appointment, he worked with the Centre for Research and Information (CRI) in different research and analysis roles.

In 2015, he was made as an assistant secretary central sub-committee of Awami League, and afterward, he served as a member of the international affairs subcommittee and publicity affairs subcommittee.

He completed LLM (human rights) from the University of Hong Kong (secured full scholarship), LLB from the University of London.