Time to celebrate three decades of awards!
October 10, 2025 2:37 pm Time to celebrate three decades of awards! The VNEF Trustees, photographed in July 2024 August 2025 It is now 30 years since we made our very first Noon scholarship award. We are fast approaching our 250th award, and and it feels the right moment to celebrate not only the work of the Vicky Noon Educational Foundation and its Trustees, but also the remarkable achievements of our many Noon Scholars, who have gone on to do great things. Back in 1994, our first award went to Shaista Ehsan Khilji from the University of the Punjab, who studied International Management at Queen’s, Cambridge – and has gone on to become a tenured professor. The award, she recalls, was “essential” and helped “realise her ambitions into academia”. This year of celebration began for us last month with an exciting launch of the new Noon Alumni Society (NAS), which we hope will play an increasingly important role in the future work and development of our Foundation. This was launched at St Antony’s College, Oxford – which of course houses the Asian Studies Centre long headed by my distinguished fellow Trustee, Professor Faisal Devji – at a special evening event exploring prospects for Pakistan going forward. Five former Noon Scholars joined us to discuss our NAS proposal and we have confirmed a working document with some key principles to reach out to all our alumni. Our vision is to develop a vibrant network that will allow us to host events, create support networks, and extend the good works of the Foundation. This has been an amazing journey. Today, we find former Noon scholars who are professors, business leaders, senior government officials and civil servants, media stars, and research experts. We are learning more and more from the results from our current survey. Congratulations to you all! As part of our celebration year, we will shortly be relaunching our Scholar-of-the-Month feature on our website. Write to us if you have a special story to share and do fill in the alumni survey if you have not done so already. We are also planning a major reunion event for our scholars – a first, although we have of course welcomed many past scholars at our annual gatherings and previous receptions in Pakistan. Let us celebrate together – watch this space for more details! Paul Flather Chair, VNEF Facebook X-twitter Linkedin Link
A Cricketing parable for our times
November 8, 2024 1:31 pm A Cricketing parable for our times October 2024 Blog Pakistan was thrashed by England in the first Test with young Harry Brook even hitting 300. Cue a collective wail and chest-beating all over the country. The board is sacked, star players are sacked, relative unknowns come in, the same pitch is used. Lo and behold – in an exciting second Test, Pakistan win. Surely it cannot happen again in the Third Test. The same team, the same tactics, a similar pitch, and the English roll over. Cue joy and fire-crackers all over the country. Zindabad. Is there a parable here? When all seems done and dusted, and all seems lost – one can still turn things around, with a plan, with willpower, with focus, with determination, and with collective effort. I am still taking in this, almost, unique and dramatic switch in fortunes in the annals of Test cricket. How could it happen? Is there a parable in this for us all? Can we use the same spin guile and pre-prepped pitches to turn around Pakistan’s economy. Can we try to recall get hold of all those national skills and resources that have ebbed away through brain drain, and banking shifts to the so-called West, to revive the fortunes of the country? Sack some of the old stagers and call in fresh unknowns to bowl some googlies and leg breaks? Wishful thinking I know, but the cricketers have given us all a lift. Hope, Change is possible. Even when all seems lost. Yes, too much to expect this to turn around the Gaza crisis? Or to get Putin and Zelensky to jaw-jaw rather than War-war, to use Churchill’s famous phrase. Or to wonder a global order teetering over relations between Presidents Trump and Xi?! Ah well. Thank you Sajid and Noman, the destructive spin twins, for a welcome break in the cycles of despondency and despair. And just perhaps, perhaps, some of us Noon Scholars might be ready to heed the call to come back to sail the ship into blue waters. Paul Flather Chair, VNEF Facebook X-twitter Linkedin Link
Our own club for all Noon Scholars!
October 29, 2024 4:25 pm Our own club for all Noon Scholars! September 2024 Vlog Over the past 30 years, since that first Vicky Noon scholarship, we have enabled 230 brilliant young Pakistani scholars to experience the joys of studying in tutorials in colleges at Oxford and Cambridge. All those of us privileged to have had the experience of quads and courts, halls and junior common rooms, scouts and bedders, butteries and bars, bumps and blues, and so forth, can chime with these words. And most of all, these prestigious institutions form a special platform that sets us up to take forward our own ideas and hopes, our dreams and ambitions. Now we want to re-engage with all of you.to hear more about how you have got on after your Noon award. We want to build up our own club of past Noon Scholars, to build our network, and we want to see what we can collectively put back into the trust to enable it to continue – strengthened – with our mission and purpose. That is why we will be setting up our own Alumni Association, as part of this year’s 30 th anniversary celebrations, to promote friendship and fellowship among our past scholars. We want to create and support activities that will further the interests of the foundation, the universities of Oxford and Cambridge, and of course members – who will be driving the association anyway. The hope is to launch this next year in Pakistan with our first ever alumni reunion at a special event at LUMS in Lahore, and we are busy trying to find exciting speakers that are able to attend. If any past scholars have contacts, or suggestions, please do get in touch with me in the usual way. We plan to revive our Linked In messages and set up a Facebook page and we will do our best to keep developing our Noon website. Most of all, we need your support and blessings to make this work. We cannot become the Rhodes network and certainly not overnight ! They have 125-year old history with more than 50 global scholars a year. We are a handful each year, down from those dizzy heights when we backed 8 or more a year, now three or four given the high overseas tuition fees. But we do have exciting plans for mentoring schemes, for special events, and regional groupings, for mutual support and sharing of experiences. Let us work together and take these ideas forward. I am sure Vicky Noon would have been very excited at this planned leap forward. Paul FlatherChair, VNEF Facebook X-twitter Linkedin Link
Let’s keep Lady Vicky ‘s dreams alive…
August 28, 2024 12:34 pm Let’s keep Lady Vicky ‘s dreams alive… August 2024 Blog It was the dream and vision of our founder, the inestimable Lady ‘Vicky’ Noon, to enable and support the brightest from Pakistan to study at the best universities in the UK – thus building what I envisage as a continuing ‘living bridge’ between two countries she knew well and loved. All the more remarkable as she was of course born and brought up in Austria originally. She moved to London, joined the team at the Pakistan High Commission in the capital, and then met and married Feroze Khan Noon when he was posted there. She went to live with him in Pakistan – where he became PM – and became a significant figure, even a Minister for Tourism. She developed a deep love for both for her new homes. But she could not have anticipated quite how successful her generous legacy would turn out. And we, as Trustees, feel honoured to be working on her project and duty bound to deliver on it. But the future is cloudy. UK tuition fees for overseas students have doubled and redoubled in the past 20 years. I challenged the Oxford Vice-Chancellor on this rise – now £40,000 + for each year for each course. In short, this is now the key route for UK universities to try to bridge their funding gap as fees for home students are fixed on just £9.250 – delivering a loss on each student. But it means the Foundation is under pressure. Once. when I started as chair in 2000, we could consider 8 or 9 awards a year, Now, it has to be 3 or four. Our funds are carefully managed. We earn as much as we can. But we will need new donors and new support if we are to keep up the range of awards – as fees continue to rise. We will be looking at our past scholars to step up and support us in these efforts. So, please stay in touch – and come forward when we launch a new appeal next year. Let us keep Lady Vicky’s dream alive, let us keep that living bridge between Pakistan and the UK very much ‘alive’. Paul FlatherChair VNEF Facebook X-twitter Linkedin Link
Celebrating 30 years together – in Lahore
August 20, 2024 1:36 pm Celebrating 30 years together – in Lahore July 2024 As we move on through summer, how to combat pessimism? With optimism – and the Vicky Noon Foundation has so much to celebrate this year. We are marking our 30th Anniversary Year – since we awarded our very first Noon Scholarship. To date we have made 230 awards to brilliant young Pakistani scholars at Oxford and Cambridge, with a total value of more than £ 7 million. After our initial years, most have been matched with partners. but almost £3.5 m has come from the foundation. Many of these scholars are now scattered all over the globe and in a wide variety of professions, business, and governmental jobs, as well as academia. There have been huge success stories, and all have acknowledged how the award has been a ‘life-changing’ moment; how ‘it opened a whole new world’; and how it enabled them ‘to realise my dream’. You can now read some of these personal statements on our website linked to scholars – and we want to add many more up in the coming months. We thank so many of you who have responded to our survey last year and we hope to push for more replies going forward. Now, as we look forward to our fourth decade, we want to take stock, to listen to your stories, to take guidance for our next decade and, as I say, celebrate together. We must. We are trying to put together plans to bring as many past scholars as possible together for a joint celebration. It will be next year – in Lahore, hosted at LUMS – probably at the end of January – date being finalised. Please make a note. Trustees, we do take joy from the achievements of each Noon Scholar. And we plan to set up a new Noon Scholars Alumni Society , so we will be looking for a group to join a steering committee to enable more support and more joint events linked to the foundation. We want this be a joyous occasion to mark all that has been achieved. We look forward to welcoming many of you in Lahore next year! Paul FlatherChair, VNEF Facebook X-twitter Linkedin Link
Summer days to escape political gloom
August 12, 2024 2:20 pm Summer days to escape political gloom June 2024 Summer days should be happy days. But looking round, there is just so much gloom and doom about. No wonder that we hear more and more people, especially young people, are switching off the news. It is hardly good to go to sleep worrying about the ever-prolonging crises in Ukraine, to to wake up to hear about Gaza and Iran. Lurking behind are concomitant fears that emanate from Russia, with Putin, er legally, confirmed for at least another five years, and China, where freedoms are ever on the retreat and smart diplomacy in the form of ‘ infrastructure loans’ disguise a new form of neo-colonialism. That is even before we look at the Indian subcontinent. I was in India for a while during the recent epic general election (more on that to come) and as I write this there are regular riots in Bangladesh, with students fighting job reservations, which might seem rather self-interested, but protests also against years of harassment and a democratic clamp down. Sri Lanka is still recovering from its own series of protests, which led to the fall of the President and near bankruptcy, and left the country dangerously in hock to the Chinese regime which is managing its debt relief programme. The Maldives, too, have had their own mini revolution and are now also drawing close, too close perhaps, to Beijing Then we come to Pakistan After an election, which despite fears did not lead to mass unrest, there is government and a sense of stability. Yet beneath the political water level, there is still much churn and jeopardy. Great uncertainties remain over the economy and development, over the status of minorities, over the growing influence of China and over the status of key political actors, not least Imran Khan – a former Oxford graduate of course. Globally, we are in a huge democratic recession, according to all the leading indices, now running more than 20 years. Our Indian subcontinent is very much part of this recession. So plenty to do for Noon Scholars, to play their part in lifting us out of this recession and away from autocratic tendencies. Summer days can be happy days off. But once they end, it will time to face the future. Sorry ! Paul Flather Chair, VNEF Facebook X-twitter Linkedin Link
January Blog
January 8, 2024 2:46 pm January Blog October 2024 Blog New year is for new times. This year should, in theory anyway, bring change as we look forward to a year of critical general elections all over the world . Yes, most attention must be on the USA and the possible return of Trump – currently too close to call – on which the direction of much international global diplomacy must depend. More on that later. But as I write this, we look to the coming election in Bangladesh and the possible return of Sheikh Hasina for a third term, that could threaten some of the democratic fabric of the country. I still recall putting up safety black blinds against possible bombing in our Delhi family house during the war between India and Pakistan, on a very long overdue visit from the UK, in December 1971. Then, of course, we have the elections coming up in Pakistan next month, itself with, as usual, so much at stake and so much to play for. All the usual assumptions and hopes apply, though the outcome that many will appreciate will be post-election stability. Then, of course, we have the elections coming up in Pakistan next month, itself with, as usual, so much at stake and so much to play for. Then we have the multi-layered Indian elections, with some 900 million eligible to vote, spread over five weeks on a rolling programme. Recent state election results suggest that it is a bit of a foregone conclusion, but the levels achieved by the Opposition INDIA coalition, will still be crucial in defending democratic culture in, er, Bharat. There are the elections in Russia, yes, really a state-controlled, legally-enforced result, that will see Mr Putin returned for a fifth term, a length that might even eclipse the old Tzars that the Bolsheviks, whom Putin admires, set out to evict from the Kremlin. There are also significant elections in Indonesia and in South Africa – which may well swing for the ANC, which seems to have assumed perpetual power. We also have the UK going to the polls, and set to turn about face, back to Labour and a more open attitude on public spending. So, time for change for some, but enforced continuity for others. Standing back, though, there is a global battle between a world of back-sliding democracies, for more than 20 years now according to the Index of Freedom, and the seemingly irresistible rise of autocracies. So, Trump v Biden becomes critical in so many ways. Standing back, though, there is a global battle between a world of back-sliding democracies, and the seemingly irresistible rise of autocracies. We need hope and optimism to face the new year with our myriad challenges – wars, poverty, climate, the inexorable rise of China – no elections there of course, thanks to President Xi. However, our Vicky Noon Foundation will be one of those bodies that will look forward optimistically. We have much to celebrate – more in my next blog – but we look forward to launching our new Alumni Society of you, our Noon Scholars, in Lahore in September. Please note! More follows. Paul FlatherChair, VNEF Facebook X-twitter Linkedin Link
30 YEARS OF THE VNEF
September 25, 2023 10:49 am 30 YEARS OF THE VNEF I am always amazed by the stoicism and cheery demeanour shown by our good Pakistani friends, even though the country has clearly now entered another bout of its all-too-regular turbulence and uncertainty. Here in the UK we are there too. Our newspapers are full of doom and gloom – and clearly things are not going to any sort of plan post-Brexit. Add in Covid legacies with maybe 1 million more unwell, another 2 million with reduced working patterns, stubbornly high inflation, a cost-of-living crisis caused by the Ukraine war and energy crisis, enduring strikes – all gloomy daily reading. Of course, one’s spirits can rally – chuckle at English cricket captain Ben Stokes smiting 182 in a one-day cricket match or applaud Naila Kiani reaching the top of Everest. Britain came together a year ago when Elizabeth II died, and paused for two weeks with shared respect and grief, indeed globally shared. It remembered itself as a nation. Pakistan too had its ordeal in the terrible floods a year back, which brought such destruction, but also acts of heroism and patriotism. In her 70 years, the Queen of course, was witness to a Pakistan that veered from democracy to bouts of military rule. All wait to see what follows next. We at the Noon Foundation, proud to be in our 30th year since our legal Foundation, have backed some 230 scholars whom we have warmly encouraged to do their best to lead Pakistan forward. As part of this anniversary year, we want to bring some of you brilliant scholars together in early 2024 to explore what more we could do to help Pakistan forward. Let us work together on that goal. I will write more on our plans in the coming weeks and months. Facebook X-twitter Linkedin Link
Celebrating all your stories
March 23, 2023 10:38 am Celebrating all your stories… October 2023 Blog Our Foundation has much to celebrate this year. As Trustees, we do take joy from the achievements of each Noon Scholar whom we are able to support. We enjoy hearing how they have used their time at the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge to develop and deliver their potential. We hear how it was a ‘life-changing’ moment; how ‘it opened a whole new world’; how it enabled them ‘to realise my dream’. You can now read some of these personal statements on our website – and we want to add many more. And, as we mark this 30th anniversary year since we awarded our very first Noon Scholarship, the Trustees are especially keen to hear more of these stories. We have supported more than 220 of you already, and you are now scattered all over the globe and in a wide variety of professions, business and governmental jobs, as well as academia. As we look forward to our fourth decade, we want to try to take stock, to listen to your stories, and, as I say, celebrate together, as we all must. It was the dream and vision of our founder, the inestimable Lady ‘Vicky’ Noon, to enable and support the brightest from Pakistan to study at the best universities in the UK – thus building what I envisage as a continuing living bridge between two countries she knew well and loved. All the more remarkable, as she was of course born and brought up in Austria originally. Vicky could not have anticipated quite how successful her generosity would turn out. We, as Trustees, feel honoured to be working on this project and duty bound to continue to deliver on it. So, please get in touch if you are not already, and respond to our letters, now going out to each past Noon Scholar. We are trying to put together plans to bring you all together for a joint celebration – perhaps in Lahore next February (if you want to make a note) – and to seek your support and advice in taking the VNEF Foundation forward. Facebook X-twitter Linkedin Link
FEBRUARY 2022
February 1, 2022 11:05 am FEBRUARY 2022 The new term started with the pall of Covid – in its new Omicron variety – still hanging over us, as academics and students regathered. Both Oxford and Cambridge have, understandably, been taking a cautious approach to the new term – and what should pass as normal college life. But as infections begin to recede as I write this, and with the UK Government pressing the ‘back to normal’ button, so more and more activities are becoming visible in College quads and on Oxford streets. The much-discussed Oxbridge Experience which involves not just the brilliant tutorials and lectures on offer, but all the opportunities for mixing across disciplinary boundaries and with fellow students from all over the world, from living in a college community, together with the endless social, political, sports, debate, arts theatre societies, almost unique, has been in a sort of deep freeze over 2020 and much of 2021. Fresh air is now beginning to blow through the corridors, and our scholars will hopefully, once again, be able to take full advantage of what the Oxbridge Experience really entails. This is what past Noon Scholars have taken with them on their life journeys as a special gift and we want future scholars to be able to enjoy the full benefits too. With All Good Wishes, Dr Paul Flather Chair, VNEF Fellow, Mansfield College, Oxford Facebook X-twitter Linkedin Link