Imperial College London announces scholarships worth £ 400,000 for its Indian students

New Delhi, April 29, 2023

Imperial College London today announced scholarships of £ 400,000 for the Indian students in the college with 50% of the scholarships to be given to female students.

 The announcement came during the visit of the Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Science & Technology Dr Jitendra Singh to the institute. The Minister also had an interaction with the students of the college.

Addressing a gathering, Dr Jitendra Singh said he was glad to be in one of the most innovative universities in Europe which has given the world, among other things, penicillin, holography, and fibre optics.

Imperial College London is a public research university. It ranks first in the UK for research outputs, research environment and research impact among the Russell Group universities. 

Imperial is also home to the MS and Parkinson’s Tissue Bank, a collection of ‘central nervous system tissue samples donated by individuals with multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s disease and related conditions. It is part of a collection making up the UK’s largest brain bank — around 1,650 specimens are stored at -80ºC, with samples from the organs being used in research projects at more than 100 different institutions around the world.

In the last five years, Imperial academicians co-authored just over 1,200 research publications with partners at more than 300 Indian institutions. Research partners include the Indian Institute of Science Bangalore, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Christian Medical College, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre and the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research. 

At present, 700 Indian students are enrolled in the College. India has a community of more than 3,000 alumni.

Dr Jitendra Singh had a lively interaction with the Indian students lasting for about an hour. He said this was one of the best times for the youth in India particularly because Prime Minister Narendra Modi has in the last nine years done away with many bottlenecks and removed several deterrent rules and created an enabling milieu where youth can realise their aspirations.

He cited the example of the space sector having been opened up for private participants. Now there are hundreds of StartUps even in the space sector. The StartUp movement has been given a personal boost by Modi as a result of which the figure has gone up from 350 to more than 90,000 with more than 100 unicorns, he added.

The Biotech sector which was earlier ignored has also received a boost. The students are showing increasing interest in the sector particularly after the vaccine success story. ”As a result, from 50 StartUps in 2014, now we have nearly 6000 Bio StartUps,” he added.

“As promising young students from India, Imperial College London is going to be your Alma mater for the rest of your life, but at the same time you should go back home and dedicate all your knowledge and learning gathered from here,” the Minister said.

India has emerged as the third-largest global start-up ecosystem, growing at an annual rate of 12-15%. There are lots of opportunities to expand the India-Imperial connection through various programmes to create a global impact, he added.

Dr Jitendra Singh is leading a high-level official Indian delegation of the Ministry of Science & Technology on a 6-day visit to the United Kingdom.

NNN