UGC EXPANDS SCOPE OF FELLOWSHIP FOR GIRL PHD CANDIDATES

Savitribai Jyotirao Phule Fellowship, earlier for scholars in humanities, social sciences, now also for Science and technology.

The University Grants Commission (UGC) announced updates in the Savitribai Jyotirao Phule Fellowship, granted to female PHD candidates. The UGC has now expanded the scheme for students doing research in the fields of science, technology, and engineering. Earlier, the scheme was open for scholars pursuing research in humanities and social sciences only.

The scheme aims to promote higher education for girls. The scheme is exclusively for the single girl child desirous of pursuing a PHD programme through regular full-time mode and has taken admission to the course in a recognized higher education institution. The Savitribai Jyotirao Phule Fellowship for Single Girl Child was launched after the revision of the earlier UGC scheme for the Single Girl Child Fellowship for Research in Social Sciences.

Apart from the opening scheme for students of science and technology, the UGC has also increased the grant for the fellowship to Rs 31,000 per month for Junior Research Fellowship (JRF) and Rs 35,000 per month for Senior Research Fellowship.

Another prominent feature of the scheme is that UGC has removed the cap on the number of slots for fellowship, now there is no limit to the number of eligible applicants that can avail of the benefits under this scheme each year. This feature further enables the scheme to widen its reach and impact and meet its objectives.

“The scheme is an effort of the University Grants Commission to not only create a pathway for greater access to higher education but also to change the perspective of our society towards the girl child through the propagation of the concept of the single girl child norm,” said UGC chairman Prof Mamidala

Jagadesh Kumar.

According to UGC, it has received about 1144 applications under this scheme, out of which 1129 applications have been provisionally selected for the award of the fellowship. Women from all strata of society would avail the benefits under this scheme as awardees include candidates from the socially and economically backward sections. About 60% of girl candidates selected are pursuing research in Science, Engineering, and Technology; thus, supporting the idea that such schemes should be awarded in all the fields of study including Science, Humanities, and Social Sciences.

The UGC has conducted a feedback survey, where researchers narrated how fellowship helped them. According to UGC, the results of the survey have been positive and encouraging. A beneficiary pursuing research from the National Institute of Technology Tiruchirappalli said: “It is of great help for women like me who need not rely upon parents for financial assistance. I could attend conferences and workshops and I could learn Econometrics. I would highly recommend continuing to empower women through schemes like this. Many discontinue just because they don’t have money. I went in for primary data collection and so there was a need to travel and collect the data in person.”

Another beneficiary from the Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda said, “I was falling short of funds to travel to do literature review in different libraries of universities in India. This fellowship has helped me a lot in this regard. Also, the software used in this research, the satellite data procured from ISRO plus the purchase of books and stationery and laptop repairs were all done with the help of this fellowship. I am totally indebted to this Fellowship for my PHD submission.”