The University Grants Commission (UGC) has come up with four new scholarship schemes for college and university students -- covering rank holders, the single girl child, Scheduled Caste (SC) and Scheduled Tribe (ST) students, and those from the North-East.
Three of them are postgraduate scholarships while the fourth is an undergraduate grant scheme. Here are the details of all the scholarships, including eligibility criteria and amount awarded.
PG Indira Gandhi Scholarship for Single Girl Child
Eligibility: The scheme is applicable only for a single girl child who has taken admission to a regular, full-time first-year Master’s degree course in any recognized university or postgraduate college.
Admission to PG courses in distance education mode is not covered under the scheme. Also, if it’s a family with a son and a daughter, then the daughter is not eligible.
Number of scholarships: 1,200
Scholarship amount: Rs 36,200 every year for a period of two years
Age limit: 30 years at the time of admission.
Ishan Uday Scholarship:
Eligibility: This is a special first-year undergraduate scholarship scheme offered by the UGC to provide equal opportunities to students of the North-East Region (NER) of India for higher studies.
Scholarships are offered every year for general degree courses, technical and professional courses, including medical and paramedical courses. For availing a scholarship under this scheme, the annual income of the parents should not exceed Rs 4.5 lakh.
For integrated degree courses, the scholarship will be tenable for the complete duration of the course but will only be applicable for the first degree in case of dual degree courses.
Number of scholarships: 10,000
Scholarship amount: Rs 5,400 per month for general degree programmes and Rs 7,800 per month for technical, medical, professional and paramedical courses.
Scholarship for University Rank Holders:
Eligibility: This scholarship is for students studying in postgraduate courses with “outstanding performance” at the undergraduate level. However, professional and distance learning courses are not covered under the scheme.
First and second rank holders who have taken admission in a regular, full-time Master’s degree course in any recognised university, deemed university, private university, autonomous college or a postgraduate college can apply for this scholarship. The scheme is available to the student only for the first PG degree.
The rank holders would be considered only from those universities (including affiliated colleges) where at least 1,000 students have appeared in the examination in the general courses and 100 in the Honours courses at the undergraduate level.
Number of scholarships: 1,800 for general courses and 575 for Honours courses every year. The scholarship tenure will not be extendable beyond two years under any circumstances.
Scholarship amount: Rs 2,000 per month for two years.
Age limit: 30 years at the time of admission.
Postgraduate SC, ST Scholarship Scheme
Eligibility: The scheme aims to offer students from the deprived sections of society an opportunity to pursue postgraduate studies in Engineering and Technology, Management, Pharmacy and other professional subjects.
Number of scholarships: 1,000
Scholarship amount: Rs 7,800 per month for ME, MTech courses and Rs 4,500 per month for other courses.
Age limit: The upper age limit for male applicants is 45 years as on 1st July on the year of application, and 50 years in case of female candidates. In exceptional cases, the age may be relaxed.
Applications for all four scholarships are to be submitted on the National Scholarship Portal.