Antananarivo: Aiming to increase the academic opportunities for students from African countries, the Government of India through ICCR (Indian Council for Cultural Relations) has offered 23 scholarships for Malagasy students to pursue their studies in various universities and institutes in India for the academic year 2020-2021. This is more than double the number of ICCR scholarships offered than in 2019-2020 and an all time high in the number of scholarships offered to Madagascar annually since 2014.
The first batch of 4 students out of 23 already left Madagascar to join the National University of Forensic Science and Andhra University today. Ambassador Abhay Kumar met them here today. They would be studying Master’s degree in Cyber Security at the National University of Forensic Science in Gujarat. Kumar wished them a very fruitful and productive time studying in India. He also hoped that they will learn about India and Indian culture during their stay in India and will act as a bridge between India and Madagascar upon their return.
Bilateral cooperation between India and Madagascar has been strengthening in various sectors, ICCR scholarships being one of them. India is one of the largest countries with many renowned universities. It remains a favoured destination for higher education among students in Madagascar. Many Malagasy students have pursued their studies in India till date. These include 81 Malagasy students who have benefited from ICCR scholarships since 2014 and about 100 Malagasy students are studying in India on self financing scheme.
About 854 young Malagasy professionals between the ages of 25-45 have also benefited from ITEC scholarships so far since 2007.
The 23 Malagasy students, who are offered scholarships this year, have been admitted to pursue their studies in various premier Indian universities such as Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi University, National Forensic Science University, Gujarat Technological University and Andhra University in bachelor and masters courses such as Business Administration (MBA), Economics, Cyber Security, Mechanical, Electrical, Electronic and Marine Engineering, Computer Applications, Development Economics, History, Spanish, English, Biology, Food & Nutrition, Tourism Hospitality, Commerce, Marketing and Management Studies.
India attaches particular importance to the transfer of skills and technology as well as on capacity building of students and professionals in developing countries. This idea is behind the implementation of ICCR (Indian Council for Cultural Relations) scholarships program.
ICCR offers nearly 3,365 scholarships annually on behalf of the Government of India to developing countries. 900 of these scholarships are exclusively for students from African countries. Due to Covid-19 pandemic, the entire process of college admission of ICCR-sponsored students had slowed down in the current academic year. Despite these challenges, ICCR has managed to obtain 1878 student acceptances out of 2678 college offers.
– global bihari bureau
