Scholarships for India’s next generation of leaders

By India Education Diary Bureau Admin On Oct 18, 2020

Ava Khan and Adhip Tanwar both have ideas that could change the lives of millions of Indians living in poverty. It’s these big ideas that have led to both being selected as recipients of the two major scholarships offered under the Sydney Scholars India Scholarship program, valued at up to $200,000 (INR 10,000,000) each.

Launched in 2019, the Sydney Scholars India Scholarship program aims to help unearth India’s future visionary leaders. It is one of the most generous scholarship programs available to Indian international students from an Australian university, valued at up to $500,000 (INR 24,500,000) a year. In total 14 students from India received scholarships this year as part of the program.

“We were so impressed by the calibre and vision of the students from India who applied for the scholarships. They have demonstrated through their empathy, resilience, vision and capability that they are the leaders of the future and we are proud to welcome them into our community and support them on their journey,” said Vice-Principal of External Relations at the University of Sydney, Tania Rhodes-Taylor.

Major scholarship recipients

Adhip Tanwar – Bachelor of Advanced Computing

“My idea to bring change to India is an eLearning mobile and web application – ‘TeachIndia’ – that provides access and personalisation of education, reaching the most underprivileged sections of society and providing education in all of India’s languages,” Adhip Tanwar, from Noida in Delhi, said.

“My long-term goal is to build a successful organisation that leverages technology to eliminate literacy barriers in communities where class boundaries prevent people from accessing proper learning.

“I have been impressed by how the University encourages its students to step outside their course requirements to develop fully and also pushes students to engage in high-level intellectual discussions on contemporary global issues.

“I believe diversity is the foundation of truly creative thinking. Sydney is a multicultural city and a place where learners of all kinds and from all countries can add to and benefit from new perspectives.”

Ava Khan – Bachelor of Science (Health) Infectious Diseases (Major)

“My idea is to develop an e-health system where every Indian’s medical data could be linked to their national identification number and accessed via their devices or government registries. To accelerate the process in rural areas, I would like to integrate my idea with the government’s Anganwadi approach that has successfully provided healthcare to children in rural areas. This will not only contribute to accurate patient diagnosis but can also assist the next generation of doctors and improve the Indian public health-care system significantly,” Ava Khan, from New Delhi, said.

“What really drew me to the University of Sydney are its core values of inclusion, integrity and discipline – beliefs I grew up with.”

“I chose the University of Sydney to equip myself with the skills I need to fulfil a life-long dream of serving my country and improve the lives of other Indians who have not had the same opportunities I have.”

Scholarship recipients

Aakriti Bhargava – Master of Commerce
Aishwary Mandloi – Master of Data Science
Dikshita Kothari – Master of Professional Engineering (Biomedical)
Eesha Agrawal – Bachelor of Commerce
Komal Mudaliar – Master of Urbanism (Urban Design)
Lakshyajeet Singh – Bachelor of Commerce
Nerina Almeida – Master of Commerce
Sanjana Sathiyanarayanan – Master of Urbanism (Urban Design)
Shivani Jani – Master of Commerce
Shreya Kothari – Bachelor of Advanced Computing
Sukrit Garg – Master of Public Policy
Sumit Kumar Bhattacharya – Master of Business Administration (Leadership and Enterprise)

About the scholarship

The scholarship scheme worth $500,000 (INR 24,500,000) a year was announced in February 2019. As part of the application process students were asked to share their “one idea that will bring change to India”.

Sydney Scholars India Scholarship consists of three types of scholarships to students from India to study at the University of Sydney:

2 x $50,000 (INR 2,500,000) per annum for any undergraduate degree of up to four years – ie. up to $200,000 (INR 10,000,000) for the entire degree.
10 x $20,000 (INR 990,000) first-year scholarships for undergraduate and postgraduate students;
15 x $10,000 (INR 500,000) first-year scholarships for undergraduate and postgraduate students.

The scholarships are open to applicants who are:

Indian citizens currently residing in India;
Applying for an undergraduate or postgraduate coursework degree at the University of Sydney.