500 scholarships in UK varsities for Indian students

Itanagar Sept 29: British Council Director Alan Gemmell Obe on Thursday informed that about 44 UK universities are offering scholarship opportunities to 500 students from India this year for academic exchanges.

Gemmell, who arrived here Wednesday evening to attend the Ziro Music Festival begining at picturesque Ziro in Lower Subansiri district from Friday, told reporters here that so far 105 women from the country including six from eastern North East India have already availed scholarship from the council to study at universities in the United Kingdom.

“We are hopeful that more students from Arunachal and other states of the north east will avail the scholarships being provided by the Council,” Gemmell said adding, UK education would provide better opportunities for the students.

“2018 marks 70 years of the British Council in India. We’ve supported the ambitions of millions of young people through our work to train over one million teachers in government schools and by investing in thousands of scholarships and academic exchanges.

Our mission is to inspire people in Britain and India to build connections for the next seventy years,” the director, who is based in New Delhi, said.

He said, over the last few years there was significant increase in visa application by Indian students.

“This has clearly indicated that the students from India are more interested to study in UK universities,” he added.

The Council, which is getting into an agreement through MoU with North Eastern Council (NEC) next month that will allow them to train teachers in English language in the region, is planning to organise a conclave of North East education ministers in New Delhi soon in partnership with NEC.

“The conclave will provide a platform for the education ministers of the region to discuss issues related to the education sector and to find out solutions,” he said.

Gemmell said, the council’s main focus is on English teaching to teachers in government schools and so far trained about 1 million teachers in the country in the last ten years.

“We believe in the role of teachers in transforming education and we want to develop real expertise working in government schools in North East,” Gemmell said.

On the cultural field, he said, the council has been trying to promote artists from North East and accordingly a music video album was created where 12 artists from Northeast including Tashi Lama from Arunachal performed.