On 16 October, HE. Ambassador Pham Sanh Chau attended and addressed the Welcome Ceremony of ASEAN Scholars organised by Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi.
The ASEAN PhD Fellowship Programme (for ASEAN citizens to do their PhDs at IITs) was announced by Indian Prime MInister N. Modi at the Summit of commemoration of 25th anniversary of India-ASEAN relations in January 2018. The initiative was launched on September 16, 2019 in the presence of the Hon. Minister of External Affairs, Dr. S. Jaishankar and Hon. Minister of Education Shri Ramesh Pokhriyal at the Jawaharlal Nehru Bhavan, New Delhi.
The total budget for the program is INR 300 million, approximately US$ 45 million, which stands as one of India’s biggest capacity building programs for ASEAN. The program is composed of 1000 PhD scholarships for scholars of 10 ASEAN countries in three academic years, particularly 250 grants in 2019, 300 in 2020 and 450 in 2021. The scholars will pursue PhD programs in 23 Various IITs. Among the first 40 shortlisted scholars, 7 are from Vietnam.
The Chief Guest of the event is the Hon’ble Minister of Education Shri Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’. Guest of Honour is Hon’ble Minister of State for Education Shri Sanjay Dhotre. The event will also be graced by Secretary Higher Education Shri Amit Khare, and Secretary (East) Ms. Riva Ganguly Das, Directors and representatives from Various IITs. The mission heads of the 10 ASEAN member states were also present along with Directors/Representatives from all IITs.
Addressed the ceremony, Ambassador Pham Sanh Chau congratulated the first batch of candidates o and stressed that Asean PhD Fellowship Program will stand as a powerful symbol of Indo-Asean intellectual solidarity as the Program helps to train a generation of Asean leading technological engineers in well-known Indian Institutes of Technology./.
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