“…to lift up the best and most gifted so as to make them of the greatest service to the country” — Jamsetji Tata

The trustees of the JN Tata Endowment for the higher education of Indians have selected 120 candidates for the JN Tata scholarships for the academic year 2005-06. The selected scholars will pursue postgraduate and doctoral studies as well as advanced research and training abroad. A total of more than Rs 3 crore will be disbursed by way of loan and gift scholarships and travel grants to these scholars.

This year the Endowment received 1211 applications from students planning to pursue studies abroad in a wide range of fields. After screening, 606 candidates were shortlisted for the interview, of whom 120 were selected on merit for the JN Tata scholarship.

The pan-Indian nature of the scholarship is reflected in the distribution of the selected scholars over 18 states of India. They cover a cross section of social backgrounds and age groups. Mid-career professionals wanting to go for advanced studies after some years of work experience form a significant group amongst the scholars. Women candidates have competed in almost every field, and 41 of the 120 awardees this year are women.

The courses of study that the awardees will undertake cover more than 26 different fields of study. The largest group of scholars is from the field of engineering and technology covering various branches of engineering, followed by computer science, the medical sciences and management studies. The other fields of study in the applied sciences opted for by the scholars include dentistry, paramedical science, veterinary science, rehabilitation science, environmental science, natural science, agricultural science and fisheries.

A few students will be taking up studies in the pure sciences, particularly in the fields of biological sciences and physics. In the area of social sciences there are students going abroad for studies in economics, political science, sociology and education. The other fields opted by the students are philosophy, law, commerce, art and architecture and service sector studies.

Almost 70 per cent of the selected scholars will go to the USA, some of them to prestigious institutions such as the universities of Stanford, Harvard, MIT, Yale, Columbia, Michigan Johns Hopkins and Carnegie Mellon. The 27 scholars proceeding to the UK plan to study at the universities of London, Oxford and Cambridge, the London School of Economics and Political Science, the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and the Greenwich Maritime Institute. A small number of scholars will go to various institutions in France, Switzerland, Canada and Australia.