Cambridge University (UK) has announced a new scholarship programme for Indian students in honour of India’s prime minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh. The scholarships were detailed by Prof. Alison Richard, vice-chancellor of Cambridge University, in New Delhi on January 12.

According to Prof. Richard, the Manmohan Singh Undergraduate Scholarship programme will provide full funding, covering tuition fees and means-tested maintenance for undergraduate study in any subject at any of the colleges affiliated with the University of Cambridge. The Manmohan Singh Undergraduate Scholarship fund has received endowments from Sir Evelyn and Lady Lynn Forester de Rothschild (through the Eranda Foundation) and the Sunil Bharti Mittal-led company Bharti Airtel (through the Bharti Foundation). The fund will also receive “substantial funding” from Cambridge Assessment, a division of the university and the parent of Cambridge International Examinations (CIE). A £1.5 million (Rs.10.5 crore) corpus fund has been constituted including a £500,000 endowment in perpetuity for upto ten Manmohan Singh undergraduate scholars studying at the university.

“The university is honoured that the prime minister, who is a distinguished Cambridge alumnus, has generously agreed to lend his name to this important initiative. This is another great example of the breadth and depth of the Cambridge-India Partnership. We are grateful to Sir Evelyn and Lady Lynn Forester de Rothschild and Cambridge Assessment for their recognition that world-class education requires global reach. We look forward to welcoming the first Manmohan Singh Undergraduate Scholars to Cambridge in 2010,” said Prof. Richard.

The new Manmohan Singh Undergraduate Scholarships will complement the three £35,000 (Rs.24.3 lakh) Manmohan Singh scholarships launched for postgraduate students at St John’s College, Cambridge, which were announced in New Delhi in November 2007.