New Delhi: After health and tourism, it is education that is being used to build brand India. Taking note of the declining number of foreign and diaspora students in Indian universities, the government is projecting India as a destination for quality education at affordable prices.

Following the announcement for the setting up of a People of Indian Origin University by the Prime Minister, the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs has announced a scholarship scheme to attract diaspora students.

“We have introduced a scholarship for 100 students in 24 developing countries in association with Educational Consultants India Ltd. The scheme will be applicable from the academic session beginning July 2006 and will be granted in undergraduate courses in all subjects barring medicine,” said Mr Malay Mishra, Joint Secretary, Diaspora Services, MoIA.

He said, “Since India has not been marketed as an educational destination aggressively, there has been some decline in the intake of foreign as well as diaspora students.”

Though the scholarship was limited to 100 students this year, there was a proposal to increase the number to 500. “The scheme will be constantly reviewed. As of now we are giving just $1,800 a year per student, this amount will also be increased over time,” he said.

The scheme for which a qualifying examination had already been conducted was based on merit-cum- means criteria. Prospective applicants needed to have attained at least 60 per cent in their school leaving examination to appear for the examination based on the SAT model.

Source: www.topics.com

This entry was posted by Taman Siswa on Wednesday, June 14, 2006 at 7:14 am and is filed under Scholarship. Tags: Diaspora Services, Education News, Educational Consultants India Ltd, Grant, India, Indian Origin University, Malay Mishra, New Delhi, Scholarship, Student, . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.