ISLAMABAD: Over a year into the pandemic, Pakistani students say they fear losing their qualifications from Chinese universities, as thousands of them remain stranded at home, unable to return to classes despite the government’s assurance of constant negotiations with Beijing.
Approximately 28,000 Pakistani students are enrolled in Chinese educational institutions and most of them have been stuck in Pakistan since China suspended the entry of foreign nationals in late March 2020 to stop the spread of COVID-19.
For more than a year, the Pakistani government has been saying it remains in touch with Chinese authorities to help the students return to their colleges and universities, but some of them are already on the verge of losing hope.
“We are hopeless and fearful that our money, time is wasted, and future is at stake,” Aroosa Khan, a Karachi-based student who has completed two years of medicine in China, told Arab News on Saturday.
“We are around 7,000 medical students in China, out of which above 85 percent are now stuck in Pakistan due to travel ban,” she said, expressing worry that they would not be able to become good doctors if they cannot practice at university hospitals and clinical labs.
As Pakistan does not recognize medical degrees obtained from online courses, which have been provided by Chinese institutes to overseas students due to the travel ban, Khan said years of studies and thousands of dollars spent on education may go into vain.
“It is not our fault that we have been compelled to take virtual classes. Majority of these medical students are on self-financing where their families had spent around Rs5 million ($28,000),” she added. “They are under acute stress and have become patients of depression due to uncertainty hovering over their future.”
The worries of medical students are shared by those enrolled in engineering courses.
Adam Ali from Attock, who is pursuing a degree in artificial intelligence at a Chinese university, said they had exhausted all avenues to seek help.
“We have met everyone in foreign office, foreign minister, education minister and all other officials but nothing happened despite tall claims. When we write to Pakistani embassy in China, they even didn’t respond to our emails,” he told Arab News.
“When this travel ban was imposed and we started online classes, at that we were ensured by our foreign office that we will be able to travel back to China through chartered flights for next semester by the end of July 2020. But nothing happened.”
Another engineering student, Jamal Nasir from Sialkot, said he had left his job to pursue a master’s degree with a Chinese university scholarship, but as online classes were introduced that facility was discontinued.
“I had a good job but have left it to pursue my master’s on a scholarship, which included a monthly stipend. After resumption of online classes, they have stopped (the) stipend as well, which created lot of financial issues,” he said. “Now neither I have job nor completing my studies due to travel ban.”
As students from some other countries, including South Korea, were allowed back to Chinese campuses in August 2020 as part of intergovernmental deals, Nasir asked why it was not possible for Pakistanis to follow suit.
“If they want, they can impose quarantine and other standard restrictions but at least allow professional degree students to take physical classes,” he said.
The Pakistani government says it is trying to resolve the issue.
“The issue has been discussed at various levels with the Chinese authorities both in Beijing and Islamabad,” foreign office spokesperson Asim Iftikhar told Arab News.
“We are also exploring the possibility of addressing the issues of research, lab work, scholarship etc. with the relevant Pakistani and Chinese authorities and institutions,” he said. “We are pursuing the matter and are continuously in touch with the Chinese side at all levels.”
The Chinese embassy in Islamabad told Arab News it had “nothing to comment on the matter at this time.”
Unable to return to China, thousands of Pakistani students fear losing degrees
https://arab.news/v7z7p
Unable to return to China, thousands of Pakistani students fear losing degrees
- Approximately 28,000 Pakistani students are enrolled in Chinese educational institutions
- China suspended the entry of foreigners in March 2020 to stop the spread of COVID-19
New PIA owner says airline will take time to make profits post-privatization
- Arif Habib says his group may consider buying the government’s remaining 25% stake and offer part of it to a foreign airline
- New management is also in talks with the US Federal Aviation Administration about resumption of PIA flights to US, he adds
KARACHI: The recently privatized Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) will continue to face financial losses for another few years before start making profits, its new owner said on Monday, promising to do all it takes to revive the Pakistani carrier.
A Pakistani consortium, led by Arif Habib Group, on Dec. 23 secured a 75% stake in PIA for Rs135 billion ($482 million) after several rounds of bidding, valuing the airline at Rs180 billion ($643 million).
The sale marked Pakistan’s most aggressive attempt in decades to reform the debt-ridden airline, which had accumulated more than $2.8 billion in financial losses. The government said it would end decades of state-funded bailouts and help revive the airline.
Arif Habib, CEO of Arif Habib Group, said the airline will take time to start giving “reasonable” returns to its investors, including AKD Group Holdings, Fatima Fertilizer Company, City Schools, Lake City Holdings and Fauji Fertilizer Company, a publicly listed firm owned by Pakistan’s military.
“It may take about one to two years’ time because in initial period of one to two years, we may see some losses but into medium term, I think, that would be turned around,” Habib said in an exclusive interview with Arab News.
“In a longer period of time, if we say about 10 years’ time, this business is expected to give a reasonable return to the investors.”
Once considered among Asia’s leading carriers, PIA struggled with chronic mismanagement, political interference, overstaffing, mounting debt and operational issues that led to a 2020 ban on flights to the European Union, United Kingdom and the United States (US) after a pilot licensing scandal. The EU and the UK lifted the bans, providing fresh momentum to the carrier that still remains barred from flying to the US.
PIA currently has around Rs9 billion ($32 million) liabilities on its balance sheet and the injection of “a reasonable capital” will keep the airline afloat, according to Habib.
“It will take care of initial period losses and will also take care of the development capital expenditure,” he said.
RENOVATION PLANS
Habib plans to renovate PIA planes, improve maintenance and flight schedule, and bring in new aircraft to revive the carrier.
“We will renovate the check-in counters and the cabins. We will replace the seats and put the entertainment equipment into it,” he said.
“We will also ensure the punctuality of flights. That will bring market confidence, and with that there will be a culture change.”
Bound by his agreement with the government that he will not change PIA’s logo and name, Habib did not rule out the new management could change the uniform of the airline staff.
“It’s too early, but I definitely will consider all options whereby we improve the brand,” he said.
The privatization of PIA as well as other loss-making, state-run enterprises is a key requirement of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) under its $7 billion loan program.
Pakistan’s equity investors welcomed the airline’s sell-off, with PIA Holding Company (PIAHC) being one of the most-traded scrips on Monday, according to the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) data.
Habib, whose conglomerate is involved in businesses ranging from stock brokerage services to real-estate projects, plans to invest about $400 million in PIA to sustain its initial losses as well as fund its overhauling that he aims to complete in the next seven years.
He said he would invest two-thirds of the planned investment in the airline upon taking it over in April, while another one-third would be injected in one year afterwards.
“Since we are putting in a large sum, about $400 million, into the company, that $400 million will be available to the company for all these improvements,” he said.
Habib’s consortium has engaged global advisory firm, Seabury Aviation Partners, to help find “viable” markets for the carrier, and targets more than 70 million Pakistani travelers to expand its local and international footprint.
If PIA is able to improve its services and improve its cabin and aircraft, I think there is a huge market waiting for PIA,” he said.
‘STRATEGIC INVESTOR’
The consortium may look to buy the government’s remaining 25% stake and offer part of it to a “strategic investor,’ preferably a foreign airline, to make PIA more competitive.
“The government has given [us] an option of acquiring 25 percent and that option we have to exercise in 90 days,” Habib said. “We are thinking of bringing in some foreign airline as our partner who would be the technical partner for [our] airline.”
The consortium does not intend to lay off any of the airline’s 7,000 employees, unless someone fails to perform, according to Habib.
The existing members of the consortium will hold 75 percent shares of the airline for the next three-year mandatory period and may expand the group afterwards.
“We may consider getting this company listed on the stock exchange and also bring in some partners if additional capital is required,” he added.
Presently, the airline’s parent company, PIAHC, is listed on the PSX, but not the newly privatized PIA.
Habib said the listing would happen once the company starts showing some profits.
“Then there would be a case for going into the market. That would be around a three-year time period,” the businessman said.
“As far as the 25% option is concerned, there we have the ability to attract more investors, more qualified investors, and preferably airlines,” he said, referring to the government’s remaining share in the airline.
FLEET AND ROUTE EXPANSION
PIA’s new management plans to more than triple its fleet to 64 aircraft from 19 at present in up to eight years. In the first phase, the airline would induct 38 four- to seven-year-old, narrow and wide body aircraft which would go up to 64 in the second phase.
“There are routes where there is incremental demand there, but because of the limited aircraft available with PIA, they are not able to serve the whole market,” Habib said, adding the delivery scheduled for new aircraft was very tight and buying old passenger jets would be easier for the group.
“Those are very suitable for the business of PIA as well.”
PIA’s new owners see the region comprising the United Kingdom (UK), the US and Canada as a “lucrative market” for their business.
“There we can increase the frequency of the flight,” he said. “We will also try to run flights to Canada from Karachi, Lahore, and I think it’s already in Islamabad.”
Habib said the PIA management was in talks with the US Federal Aviation Administration about the resumption of its flights to the US.
“We will try to comply with whatever the requirements are,” he said. “Definitely, we would like to be approved worldwide.”
