After successfully taking ‘control’ of Bangladesh’s armed forces and influencing politics to a large degree post August 2024, Pakistan is now making a determined bid to effect the country’s Bengali language and attendant educational ecosystem.
A Pakistani delegation led by the Islamabad-based National University of Modern Languages’ Rector Major General (retd) Shahid Kayani arrived in Dhaka, via Dubai, on January 11. The other two members of the visiting delegation are Professor Razia Sultana, the Vice-Chancellor of Women’s University in Mardan and Atiq Shahid Kayum.
The three will attend the Asian Regional Conference on Higher Education at the Le Meridien Hotel in Dhaka between January 12 and 15. This conclave will focus on regional cooperation and education diplomacy and involves different university regulation bodies of the SAARC countries.
Pakistan’s Higher Education Commission Executive Director Professor Zia-ul Haq also landed at Dhaka’s Hazrat Shah Jalal International Airport, leading a team of six officials, including Professor Arabella Bhutto who is the Vice-Chancellor of SABS University of Art, Design and Heritage, located in Sindh province, Professor Ehsan Ullah Kakar, Vice Chancellor of University of Loralai in Balochistan, and Professor Zahoor Ahmed Bazai, Vice Chancellor, University of Balochistan and Chair of the All Pakistan Vice Chancellors Committee among other.
This is not the first time that Pakistani educators are in Bangladesh or have tried to influence Bangladesh’s education system at India’s expense. In November 2025, the Pakistani higher education authorities launched a major initiative to establish a competing policy to institutionalise a crucial scholarship programme offering 500 higher-education opportunities for Bangladeshi students.
First targeted at Rajshahi University, the move was ostensibly aimed at expanding academic mobility and access to affordable study pathways as international education costs continue to surge. The fully-funded scholarship programme initiative was announced at the largest Pakistan Education Expo held in Bangladesh, organised in Dhaka on Monday by the Pakistan High Commission in partnership with Pakistan’s Higher Education Commission (HEC).
More than 15 top-ranked Pakistani universities participated, engaging directly with students seeking opportunities to study abroad.
At that time, among the first batch of Bangladeshis was a Hindu undergraduate student from Ulipur in Rangpur division, who applied and was selected as a recipient of the Pakistan HEC-sponsored scholarship that sought to match the existing Indian scheme that was operational for years.
The November 2025 daylong education fair was attended by Pakistan’s Higher Education Director Jehan Jeb Khan and Pakistan High Commission Counsellor Kamran Dangal.
The Pakistan-Bangladesh Knowledge Corridor aimed to strengthen educational and professional ties between the two countries through scholarships, joint research and focused training programmes for civil servants in fields such as public sector management, public policy and project management.
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The initiative also sought to enhance academic and cultural links, foster partnerships based on shared history and promote mutual learning through student exchanges and collaborative research.
