Government of India Scholarships

The government of India is offering a large number of scholarships every year to the international students who want to pursue their studies in India. The scholarship offers are sent through the diplomatic mission abroad. The information regarding such type of scholarships could be obtained from the Indian embassies of respective countries.

The total number of scholarships provided every year is massive and actually, over 3,500 scholarships are provided for the foreign nationals to study in India. Here, we are going to discuss about some of the most sought scholarships. Here is a list of them.

• General cultural scholarship scheme (GCSS)
• Cultural Exchange Program
• Commonwealth Fellowship Plan
• Reciprocal Scholarships Scheme
• Technical Cooperation Scheme of the Colombo Plan
• SAARC Fellowship Scheme
• Apasaheb Pant Scholarship Scheme
• ICCR Scholarship Scheme
• Craft Instructors Scheme
• Scholarship Scheme for Sri Lanka and Mauritius

General cultural scholarship scheme (GCSS)

The General cultural scholarship scheme (GCSS) are awarded annually to the students belonging to certain countries. For the under graduate, post graduate and doctoral research programs, scholarships are provided to certain Asian, African and Latin American countries. However, there is no scholarship available for medical studies (MBBS, BDS and medical research) under the GCSS scheme. Here is a list of countries covered under the GCSS scheme.

Afghanistan, Barbados, Botswana, Cambodia, Cameroon, Ethiopia, Fiji, Gambia, Guyana, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Jamaica, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Laos, Lesotho, Maldives, Mauritius, Myanmar, Malawi, Namibia, Nepal, Palestine, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Somalia, South Africa, Republic of Ireland, Sri Lanka, Syria, Seychelles, Sudan, Tanzania, Thailand, Trinidad and Tobago, Uganda, Uzbekistan, UAE, Vietnam, Yemen, Zaire, Zambia. Zimbabwe.

Cultural Exchange Program

Under the Cultural Exchange Program, the Indian council of Cultural Relations offer scholarships to the international students according their terms and conditions. However, there has to be an established cultural exchange program between India and the countries receiving scholarship. At the moment, India has Cultural Exchange Program with the following countries.

Australia, Algeria, Argentina, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bulgaria, Belgium, Bahrain, Colombia, Cyprus, China, Czech, Ethiopia, Finland, France, Germany, Ghana, Greece, Hungary, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Italy, Japan, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kuwait, Kyrghyzstan, Mongolia, Myanmar, Maldives, Mauritius, Malaysia, Mexico, Mali, Netherlands, Nigeria, North Korea, Norway, Pakistan, Philippines, Portugal, Poland, Romania, Russia, Rwanda, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, South Korea, Senegal, Sudan, Syria, Somalia, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Tunisia, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Uganda, United Arab Emirates (UAE), United Arab Republic (Egypt), Uzbekistan, Vietnam, Yemen, Zaire, Zimbabwe.

Commonwealth Fellowship Plan

Every year, scholarships as well as fellowships are offered to the international students under the Commonwealth Fellowship Plan. The Commonwealth Fellowship Plan are mainly for post-graduation studies. However, a few under graduate scholarships are also provided. Short duration scholarship for conducting research are also available under Commonwealth Fellowship Plan.

Reciprocal Scholarships Scheme

Students who want to pursue post graduate studies or research in any subject, could apply under the Reciprocal Scholarships Scheme. For under graduate level, the Reciprocal Scholarships Scheme are provided only for the studies of Indian Classical Music, Indian Classical Dance, Painting, Sculpture, Dram as well as Indian Languages. For under graduate study, the international student may join any university, as government universities in India usually have quotas for the international students under different scholarship schemes. Scholarship under Reciprocal Scholarships Scheme are available to the students of following countries.

Austria, Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, Denmark, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Switzerland, Surinam, and Uruguay.

Technical Cooperation Scheme of the Colombo Plan

Technical Cooperation Scheme of the Colombo Plan scholarships are meant for the students of Asian Countries. Under the Technical Cooperation Scheme of the Colombo Plan, scholarships for under-graduate, post-graduate and doctoral research studies are offered to the following countries.

Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Iran, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Maldives, Nepal, Philippines, Papua New Guinea, Sri Lanka, South Korea, Thailand.

There are two categories of Technical Cooperation Scheme of the Colombo Plan scholarship and those categories are mentioned below.

Category 1: foreign officers and officials may receive this scholarship for short and medium term.

Category 2: Foreign students may receive the scholarship in this category for under graduate, post graduate and training posts in short term, long term and intermediate term basis.

The duration of short term, intermediate term and long term scholarships are less than one year, below two years and more than three years respectively.

SAARC Fellowship Scheme

To improve the cultural relation among the SAARC countries, the SAARC Fellowship Scheme scholarships are provided for post graduate studies. Six fellowship as well as twelve scholarships are provided every year under the SAARC Fellowship scheme to the students of the following countries.

Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Sri Lanka. However, two scholarships and one fellowship are provided to each country.

Apasaheb Pant Scholarship Scheme

Under the Apasaheb Pant Scholarship Scheme, a Kenyan student is provided with a post graduate scholarship every year. The scholarship is actually provided in the field of economics or International Relation in Jawaharlal Nehru University. Apart from the university fees, the air fare is also provided to the student.

ICCR Scholarship Scheme

ICCR scholarship scheme is provided in the performing arts and visual arts sectors. Over 60 scholarships are provided every year under the ICCR scholarship scheme. Here is the list of subjects under this scholarship scheme.

Indian classical music, Dance, Music, Sculpture and Painting.

Craft Instructors Scheme

Under this scholarship scheme, 10 bursaries are offered to the nationals of commonwealth countries for training as the craft instructor.

Scholarship Scheme for Sri Lanka and Mauritius

There are 77 scholarships provided every year for the students of Sri Lanka and Mauritius. 47 scholarships are provided for the Sri Lankan students and 47 scholarships are provided for the nationals of Mauritius.

To the bottom lines

To cut it to the chase, it has to be said that the required info and data regarding all of these scholarships mentioned above will be found in the embassies of the corresponding countries. Thus, it is recommended for the foreign students to visit the local Indian embassy and to make inquiry about the scholarships available for corresponding countries.