A Jean Monnet Chair is a three-year teaching and research post awarded to university professors with a specialization in European Union studies. Jean Monnet Chairs are achieved through a competitive process under the Erasmus + programme of the European Union. They are named after Jean Monnet (1888-1979), a visionary French civil servant who is revered as the founding father of the European Union.

National University of Modern Languages (NUML), Islamabad is credited to establish the first-ever Jean Monnet Chair in Pakistan. The chair titled ‘The European Union as an Actor in South Asia’ has been awarded to Dr. Muhammad Riaz Shad, Associate Professor in International Relations for the period 2020-23. The chair holder specializes in Politics of the European Union with doctoral research on EU-Pakistan relations and numerous EU-focused research publications.

Despite the EU's significant presence as an actor in the South Asian countries, academic focus on the EU studies in these countries, including Pakistan, remains marginal. It is mostly uncommon to find the courses, research publications and specialized faculty in the area of EU studies in Pakistani Universities. National University of Modern Languages (NUML), the recipient university, aims to fill this gap by establishing Jean Monnet Chair at the Department of International Relations, Faculty of Social Sciences. The Chair seeks the following key objectives:

• To promote teaching and research in the EU studies in NUML as well as other Pakistani universities.
• To develop an academic and policy discourse on the EU as an actor in South Asia.
• To create an awareness among Pakistani students about degrees and research areas in the EU studies with a focus on the EU-funded scholarships and research projects under the Erasmus+ and other programmes.

These objectives are carried out through teaching, research publications and organization of seminars and trainings. The Chair platform offers both teaching and research to the BS and MSc level students while it provides M. Phil and PhD students with research opportunities in the EU studies.