OAS PAEC Scholarship Program Guide: Eligibility, Funding, Documents and How Partner Calls Work

The OAS Partnerships Program for Education and Training, usually shortened to PAEC, is one of the more confusing funding schemes for students to research, because it is not one scholarship at all. The Organization of American States negotiates funding deals with partner universities and training institutions across the Americas, and each deal becomes its own scholarship announcement with its own rules, fields, number of awards and deadline. Dozens of these calls appear on the OAS portal over the course of a year.

Before a Pakistani student spends any time on it, there is one question to settle: do you hold citizenship or permanent residency in an OAS member state? The member states are the countries of North, Central and South America and the Caribbean. A Pakistani passport on its own does not meet the citizenship or residency rule, so if you live in Pakistan with no residency status in the Americas, check your eligibility carefully before going further. If you are a Pakistani-origin student who is a citizen or permanent resident of a country in the region, PAEC is very much worth a look. You can see the full scholarship details on our listing as well.

PAEC in one table

How a network of partner calls works in practice

Think of PAEC as a noticeboard rather than a single competition. The OAS agrees terms with a university, for example a tuition waiver for a set number of students in a particular master's program, and then publishes that as a PAEC announcement. Partner institutions have included universities in Chile, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Trinidad and Tobago, Canada and the United States.

The program covers a wide spread of study: undergraduate certificates and degrees, master's and professional graduate programs, short professional-development courses and language immersion programs. The trade-off for that breadth is that nothing is standard. One call might be a full tuition waiver at a Caribbean university, the next a partial discount on a short language immersion course. You have to read every announcement on its own terms.

There is also a development angle that shapes the whole scheme. PAEC exists to build skills across the OAS region, and scholars are generally expected to return to their home country after the funded program, unless they are authorized otherwise. If your real plan is to settle permanently in the country where you study, this is the wrong scholarship for you.

What the money can and cannot pay for

Because each partnership is negotiated separately, the funding varies a lot. Across the announcements, PAEC support can include:

• Tuition waivers or discounts from partner universities, sometimes covering full tuition
• Grants of up to approximately USD 10,000 per academic year for tuition and study-related costs, depending on the specific partnership
• Support with study-related costs at partner institutions across the Americas
• Access to the network of past PAEC scholars and OAS professional-development resources

Be realistic about this. Many PAEC awards are discounts, not full rides. A partial tuition waiver can still leave you paying for housing, food, flights and health cover yourself, so read the coverage line of each announcement before you count on it. Whether living costs are included depends on the call, so confirm it on the official announcement rather than assuming.

The eligibility rules every call shares

Each partner announcement adds its own conditions, but the core requirements are the same across the program:

• Citizenship or permanent residency in an OAS member state
• An application to study outside your country of citizenship or residence
• Admission to, or an application in progress at, the partner institution named in the announcement
• Meeting that institution's academic and language requirements
• Willingness to return to your home country after the program, unless authorized otherwise
• Good academic standing and, for graduate awards, a clear statement of how the program supports your home country's development

The second rule catches people out. You cannot use PAEC to study in the country where you already hold citizenship or residence. So a permanent resident of Canada, for instance, would be looking at partner calls in other member states, not at Canadian universities.

Non-members are not eligible. The restriction to citizens or permanent residents of OAS member states is firm.

Paperwork to have ready before a call opens

Some PAEC deadlines are announced at short notice, so the students who do well are usually the ones whose files are already prepared. A typical announcement asks for:

1. The completed application form for that specific partner scholarship
2. Academic transcripts and degree certificates
3. A valid passport or proof of citizenship or permanent residency in an OAS member state
4. A letter of admission or application confirmation from the partner institution
5. A statement of purpose linking your proposed studies to your home country's development
6. Letters of recommendation
7. Language proficiency test scores, where the host institution requires them

Get your transcripts and certificates translated where needed and keep certified copies on hand. If your degree is from Pakistan, sort out attestation early; our IBCC and MOFA attestation guide explains that process. For a broader list of what international scholarships usually ask for, see the scholarship documents checklist.

Applying to the university and the OAS in parallel

The order of steps matters more here than with most scholarships, because the university and the OAS both have a say.

1. Browse the PAEC section of the OAS Scholarships portal for current announcements that match your target country and field.
2. Apply for admission directly to the partner institution named in the announcement.
3. Prepare and submit the PAEC scholarship application alongside or after your university application, following that announcement's instructions.
4. Submit all required documents before the announcement's deadline. Deadlines differ for every partner call.
5. Wait for review from both the OAS and the partner institution, since most awards need joint approval.
6. If selected, you receive award instructions and, where applicable, visa and travel guidance from the OAS General Secretariat.

The common mistake is treating the scholarship as step one. Most PAEC awards require an active or confirmed application to the partner university, so if you wait to hear about funding before applying for admission, you will usually miss the call.

Timing when there is no fixed deadline

There is no single PAEC season. New partner announcements are added on a rolling basis throughout the year, university admission runs on each institution's own calendar, and the scholarship deadline is set per announcement. After a deadline closes, the joint OAS and institution review takes some weeks before decisions go out to applicants.

In practice, this means checking the portal regularly, not once. The PAEC announcements archive is useful for seeing which kinds of institutions and programs have offered calls before, which helps you guess what might come up again. Treat past calls as a guide only: confirm the exact deadline and terms on the live announcement.

Where applicants win or lose a PAEC award

Selection usually combines academic merit with a judgment about how your studies will help your home country's development. That second part is where many applications are weak. A statement of purpose that only talks about personal career goals reads poorly against this mandate. Spell out what skill gap exists at home, how the program fills it, and what you will do after you return.

A few other points from how the program is set up:

• Look past the flagship universities. Announcements from lesser-known partner institutions often have lighter competition.
• Do not ignore language requirements. Each partner institution sets its own, and some calls ask for test scores.
• Read the coverage line of every call. A discount and a full grant look similar in a headline.
• Keep one master file of documents updated so you can respond within days when a relevant call appears.

Who does PAEC suit? Students who already hold citizenship or permanent residency in the Americas, already have a target country and university in mind, and need a funding bridge. Who should skip it? Anyone without that status, and anyone who wants a single, predictable, fully funded scholarship with one deadline. If that is you, our scholarships guide for Pakistani students covers options that fit better.

Frequently asked questions

Is PAEC a single scholarship?

No. It is a network of individual scholarship announcements that the OAS negotiates with partner universities. Each one has its own deadline, fields and eligibility details.

Can a Pakistani citizen living in Pakistan apply?

Eligibility is limited to citizens and permanent residents of OAS member states, which are the countries of the Americas. A Pakistani passport alone does not meet that rule. If you hold citizenship or permanent residency in a member state, you can apply to study in another member state.

How much funding does PAEC provide?

It depends on the announcement. Awards range from partial tuition discounts to grants of up to about USD 10,000 per academic year. Check each call for what it covers.

Do I need university admission before applying?

Most announcements require an active application or confirmed admission at the named partner institution, so apply to the university first or at the same time.

Do I have to return home after my studies?

PAEC scholars are generally expected to return to their home country after the funded program, unless they are authorized otherwise.

Does PAEC fund PhD study?

PhD is listed among the eligible levels, but each call names its own degree level. The program descriptions focus on undergraduate, master's, professional and language programs, so check whether a specific call covers doctoral study.

For current calls and exact terms, go to the OAS Scholarships portal, and keep our OAS PAEC scholarship page handy for a quick summary.