Chevening in India invites applications

Chevening in India, the UK’s global scholarship and fellowship is inviting applications to its various programmes. These include scholarships for one-year Master’s programmes as well as eight to twelve-week fellowships for mid-career professionals across streams to help them develop academic capabilities and networks. The fellowships that are currently open include Chevening South Asia Journalism Fellowship, Chevening Cyber Security Fellowship, Chevening Rolls-Royce Science and Innovation Leadership Fellowship, Chevening Clore Fellowship and Chevening Standard Chartered Financial Services Fellowship. The scholarships allow candidates from over 140 countries to studt across disciplines in nearly 100 universities in the UK.

All scholarships and fellowships except Clore close on 27 September. The deadline for Clore is 7 November.

The Chevening programme was set up in 1983 and is funded by both the UK government and private corporations. According to Sir Dominic Asquith KCMG, British High Commissioner to India, the UK government looks at the programme as a living bridge which allows an exploration of disciplines that are common to both the countries. The programme introduces applicants to British culture to help them build lasting relationship as well as replay their learnings into the Indian system in areas of mutual cooperation which are important to both countries.

“The relationship between the two countries is historic as we have more than a shared past and the Chevening programme helps us strengthen the existing relationship as well as build new ones,” he says. According to him, British companies too, are committed to India in the long -term and want to create a comfortable context where they are not just creating a supply chain of employees but a broader community of professionals who can share best practices.

So far, 50,000 scholars globally have participated in the Chevening programme of which 2,500 are Indians. The cohort size of Indian participants has quadrupled in the last three years and India is currently the biggest source of Chevening scholars.

Newer disciplines are added to the fellowships on offer based on what mutual area of cooperation requires intervention. The most recent addition is the Chevening Standard Chartered Financial Services Fellows as part of which candidates will be hosted at King’s College London.

According to Asquith, a prospective Chevening candidate will possess leadership ambition and wants to bring a change in the society. “Applicants must exhibit high professional, academic and intellectual standards and a drive to lead,” he says. The interview helps ascertain these aspects and also helps determine the depth of an individual’s engagement with the discipline as well as with the UK, he adds.