Educating Asia's Women, One Scholarship At A Time

As the Pathways for Promise program at the Asian University for Women (AUW) comes into its fourth year, it continues to expand its opportunities to young women from disadvantaged and marginalized communities from across Asia and the Middle East.

Garment workers enter into the AUW as part of the Pathways for Promise program, building an ever-widening community of scholars. At present, there are 60 former garment workers from over 15 different factories in Bangladesh who are studying at AUW. In the Pathways for Promise program, students gain valuable skills in English, writing, and math that they need to be successful as they move forward in their studies.

Other students who have entered through the Pathways for Promise program include 11 daughters of tea leaf pickers from Sri Lanka, India, and Bangladesh; and 11 students from Bangladeshi indigenous communities. Additionally, there are 19 students from Madrasas, religious Islamic schools that may not adequately prepare students for the secular world, and 103 Rohingya students—many of whom have fled conflict in Myanmar. These students greatly benefit from the fundamental academic skills they gain in their first step at AUW.

An exciting development in the Pathways for Promise program is that AUW has begun recruiting from Timor-Leste and Lao People’s Democratic Republic (PDR). This project aims to recruit talented young women from remote, socioeconomically-disadvantaged provinces; ethnic groups; and first-generation university entrants from these countries. The first batch of students from Timor-Leste and Lao PDR joined the garment workers and other Pathways for Promise students just this fall. We look forward to seeing how their studies and dreams progress!