Launch of $400,000 Abdul Kalam Scholarship scheme announced

B D Narayankar

Press Trust of India

Bangalore, Nov 16: Universities and Science Minister
of the United Kingdom David Willetts today announced launch of
$400,000 A P J Abdul Kalam Scholarship scheme for Indian
students and signing of an MoU between Oxford University and
Indian Institute of Science (IISc).
The scheme would offer scholarships to 100 Indian students
enrolling in postgraduate engineering, science and technology
programmes in September 2012, he told reporters here.
Willetts said the tieup would involve clinicians from
Bangalore hospitals and scientists from rural Indian
universities providing affordable healthcare.
It would also involve innovation and commercialisation
experts from the Indian Institute of Management (Bangalore)
to provide affordable treatment, Willetts added.
He said UK was through with the proposal to set up an
academy to train at least 300 Indian academics for gaining
quality teaching skills. "There is immense scope for British
institutions to provide training to teachers," he added.
Willetts also said there are about 50,000 Indian students
studying in various UK institions. "India runs second only to
China in terms of oversees students pursuing higher education
in UK," he said.
On his meeting with IISc experts, Willett said UK was keen
on addressing problems relating to urban transport and town
planning systems in Bangalore.
He also hoped to see business students in Britain taking
benefit of IIM, Bangalore. "It is an execellent business
school," he said.
Asked about signing MoUs between India and UK in fields
other than education and research, Willetts said his country
expected a lot of collaboration with industries in future.