Sukkur IBA University has opened its Sindh Talent Hunt Program (STHP) for the 2027 cycle, offering a fully funded foundation semester and four-year degree scholarships to intermediate students from Sindh. Applications close October 29, 2026. Here is what you need to know before you apply.
Every year, Sukkur IBA University runs one of Pakistan's more generous province-specific scholarship schemes: the Sindh Talent Hunt Program, or STHP. It exists to identify talented intermediate-level students from across Sindh, regardless of their financial background, and put them through a six-month academic preparation track followed by a fully funded four-year undergraduate degree for the strongest performers. The STHP 2027 cycle is now open, and the application window is short, so if you or someone in your family is eligible, it is worth understanding the process now rather than later.
Key dates
Online applications for STHP 2027 close on October 29, 2026. Candidates who apply will then sit a written entrance test on November 8, 2026. That gives applicants a little under two weeks from the application deadline to prepare, so the sooner you submit your form, the more time you will have to revise before test day.
Who can apply
To be eligible, you need a valid domicile from any district in Sindh province. On the academic side, you must have completed your Intermediate (or an equivalent qualification) from a recognised board in 2024, 2025, or 2026 — so this year's cycle is open to three back-to-back batches of intermediate graduates, not just this year's. The published eligibility criteria do not mention a minimum percentage or GPA cut-off for the application stage itself, though your intermediate result will still matter for the merit calculation used in the entrance test and final selection, so it is worth applying regardless of how competitive you think your marks are.
Where the test is held
Sukkur IBA holds the STHP written screening test at six centres across Sindh: Sukkur, Hyderabad, Karachi, Mirpurkhas, Larkana, and Naushahro Feroze. Having test centres spread across the province, rather than requiring everyone to travel to Sukkur, is one of the things that makes this scholarship genuinely accessible to students from smaller cities and rural districts, not just those already living near the main campus.
What you get if you're selected
STHP works in two stages. First, 200 candidates are selected into a fully funded, six-month Foundation Semester. This semester focuses on three subjects — English, Mathematics, and Information and Communication Technology (ICT) — designed to bring students from different school systems and board backgrounds up to a common academic standard before they start a formal degree. During this semester, students receive free learning materials, a full tuition fee waiver, and a monthly allowance of Rs. 9,500.
Students who perform well during the Foundation Semester move on to regular degree programmes. Of the original 200, the top 100 performers are awarded a full four-year (eight-semester) undergraduate scholarship, which includes a 100% tuition waiver and a monthly stipend of Rs. 5,000, provided they maintain a minimum CGPA of 2.2 each semester. Scholarship holders can pursue degrees including BBA, BS Software Engineering, BS Artificial Intelligence, BE Electrical Engineering, BS Accounting and Finance, and BS Media and Communication at Sukkur IBA's main campus.
How to apply
Applications are submitted online through Sukkur IBA University's official admission portal before the October 29, 2026 deadline. Because the university updates its admission portal link periodically, the safest way to find the exact application page is to search "Sukkur IBA admissions" and confirm you are on the university's own iba-suk.edu.pk domain before entering any personal information, rather than relying on third-party sites that may host outdated or incorrect links.
Why this scholarship is worth the effort
What makes STHP stand out among Pakistani scholarship programmes is that it does not just pay your tuition — it also gives you a monthly living allowance from day one of the Foundation Semester, long before you have even started a formal degree. For a student from a lower-income household in Sindh who might otherwise not be able to afford to leave home for higher education, that combination of a tuition waiver and a stipend can be the difference between continuing education and stopping after intermediate. If you meet the domicile and qualification criteria, applying costs you little more than some time and the entrance test preparation, against the possibility of a fully funded four-year degree.