The University Grants Commission (UGC) has issued a notice urging students to apply for the QUAD Fellowship after Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke about the programme at the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (QSD) or the QUAD Summit between India, Japan, the United States and Australia in Tokyo earlier this week.
The QUAD Fellowship will select 25 Master's or Doctoral students each from the four countries and send them to the United States for higher education. These students will belong to streams under Engineering, Mathematics and Science and Technology. The fellowship aims to promote innovation among students in these four countries and to allow them a chance to obtain a degree in the US.
The 100 selected students from the four countries will be sponsored to study in the United States. The notice released by the UGC added that the commission will incur any financial liability for the programme. Those selected under the programme will receive a one-time grant of $50,000 in order to fund their education, including research-related travel and stay in the US. This amount will be sponsored by the philanthropic organisation Schmidt Futures and will be governed by a body that includes representatives from all four countries. The programme will run from August 2023 to May 2024, reported The Hindu.
Calling it a "new fellowship to build ties between the next generation of researchers and scientists", the UGC has invited applications for the same on the official website, quadfellowship.orghttp://quadfellowship.org. The last date to submit the application is June 30, 2022, 5 pm.
