• India
  • Sep 17

1,000 ASEAN students to study at IITs

A PhD fellowship programme at IITs for students from ASEAN countries was launched on September 16 by External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar, who hoped the platform will help in generating “new business ideas” and “exciting technological breakthroughs”.

Billed as the largest of its kind, the programme will select 1,000 students in three phases.

The government will spend Rs 300 crore on this fully-funded PhD fellowship programme for students from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), an official said.

IIT Delhi is the coordinating agency, which will select 1,000 students in the next three years.

“This year, 250 students will be selected, 300 the year after and 450 in the subsequent year,” said R. Subrahmanyam, secretary in the human resource development ministry.

ASEAN is an intergovernmental organisation in Southeast Asia. Its 10 member countries are Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

A senior official said the programme is fully funded by the HRD ministry and the external affairs ministry is a partner in it to popularise it through outreach to ASEAN countries.

“This is the launch of a platform for the largest capacity building programme in the ASEAN-India partnership so far. Through the launch of this portal, we open our celebrated Indian institutions - the IITs - to 1,000 brilliant students from ASEAN partner countries for doctoral research,” Jaishankar said.

Besides mutually benefiting ASEAN countries and India, this programme will also “enhance the global reputation of IITs”, he said.

“Through this fellowship programme, we hope these bright students will help transform the world by doing research in cutting-edge areas such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, smart materials, advanced manufacturing, target drugs and bio-engineering,” he said.

“We expect that the next generation of new business ideas and exciting new technological breakthroughs will be launched by the platform provided by this fellowship enabling further research by ASEAN and India together,” Jaishankar added.

The fellowship was announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi last year at the ASEAN-India commemorative summit.

Union HRD Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal hoped the fellowship will enhance cultural and technological bonds between ASEAN and India.

“We have 23 IITs which are the top institutes and today, with this programme, it will lend a big strength for ASEAN countries and take our generations a long way ahead,” he said.

In his address, he asserted that, “Through this fellowship, we will polish these students like diamonds and give it back to you”.

The event was also attended by Thailand Ambassador Chutintorn Gongsakdi, Vietnam Ambassador Pham Sanh Chau, Envoy of Indonesia Sidharto Suryodipuro and other diplomats from various ASEAN countries.

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