Bursaries announced for Indian students

India's most outstanding tertiary students will have the opportunity to study at the University of Adelaide this year under a new bursary scheme announced recently in New Delhi.

The University has set aside 54 lakhs Indian rupees (AUD$154,000) to provide bursaries for up to 33 postgraduate students and 10 undergraduate students from India.

Indian students who enrol at the University of Adelaide in 2008 will be considered for one of these bursaries, worth more than 1 lakh Rs each, to assist with their living and studying expenses in Adelaide.

Postgraduate students will be eligible to study in a wide range of fields, including agriculture, business and commerce, engineering, computer science, environmental management and international studies.

Up to 10 bursaries of the same value will be offered to Indian students enrolling in undergraduate degrees in business, architecture, commerce, economics, education and law.

University of Adelaide Pro Vice-Chancellor (International) Professor John Taplin said the bursaries would help ease the costs of an education at a world-ranking university overseas.

"The University is aware that the Indian Government wants to increase the access of Indian students to higher quality tertiary education," Professor Taplin said.

"Due to India's remarkable economic and social growth, it has been estimated that there will be a shortfall of about 500,000 professionals by the end of the decade and that the number of world-class PhDs needs to be five times the number currently being produced.

"Our engagement with India has grown markedly in recent years, with more collaborative research being undertaken between our two countries. We would like to play our part in addressing the emerging skills shortage as well," he said.