Govt launches programme offering scholarships to ASEAN students at IITs

Indian government recently announced it will be offering PhD fellowships to ASEAN students at IITs in India. The Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) came up with the decision to offer 1000 PhD Scholarships to the students from Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries. Students selected for this fellowship programme will get the opportunity to study at the Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT), which are premier technology institutes of India.

The ASEAN countries comprises of Indonesia, Singapore, Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei, Thailand, Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar and Vietnam. The programme aims to boost friendly relations with the ASEAN countries and enhance people-to-people ties between India and its immediate neighbours. The formal launch will happen today, September 16.

The External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and HRD Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal will formally launch the fellowship programme wherein they will offer scholarships. The admission process requires candidates, who are willing to study at the IITs, fill a formal application that will be launched on the official website. The admission portal for ASEAN Fellowship scheme will be managed by IIT Delhi.

According to the press release, the event for the launch of ASEAN Fellowship programme will be attended by Head of missions of ASEAN countries, Chairman of UGC and Vice Chairman of NITI Aayog, senior officials of ministries of External Affairs and Human Resource Development and Directors of all 23 IITs.

About IIT:

The Indian Institutes of Technology are autonomous public institutes of higher education, located in India. They are governed by the Institutes of Technology Act, 1961 which has declared them as institutions of national importance and lays down their powers, duties, and framework for governance.