55 students awarded K.C. Mahindra Scholarship for post graduate studies abroad

Chandigarh: The K. C. Mahindra Education Trust, which was founded 65 years ago, today announced that it had awarded this year’s K.C. Mahindra Scholarship for Post Graduate Studies Abroad to 55 students after conducting interviews online, given the current situation related to the Covid-19 pandemic.
 
The K. C. Mahindra Education Trust has been awarding these interest-free, loan scholarships to deserving students desiring to pursue post-graduate studies overseas in various fields, since 1956. In 2020, a total of 1,246 applications were received, and after a careful evaluation, 90 candidates were shortlisted to be interviewed by the selection committee comprising of 9 members.
 
Commenting on the scholarship program, Anand Mahindra, Chairman, Mahindra Group said, “The ongoing pandemic has significantly disrupted the higher education sector, which is a critical driver of a country’s economic future. Despite these unprecedented times, we were able to facilitate the programme for students through virtual interviews. I hope that each one of our scholars uses this unique opportunity to not only pursue their educational goals, but also creates a positive future impact on the communities in which they live and work.”

The shortlisted candidates included 23 graduates from the IITs, and the balance are alumni of other premier educational institutes including BITS Pilani, the National Law Schools, Lady Shri Ram College, St. Xavier’s College, St. Stephens and Sir JJ College of Architecture. The candidates had secured admission to highly regarded foreign universities including Harvard, Stanford, Columbia, Carnegie Mellon, UC Berkeley, Georgia Tech, Pennsylvania, London Business School, LSE, Oxford Cambridge, and ETH Zurich.
 
The top 4 scholars will get a scholarship of INR 8 lacs each and the rest will receive a scholarship of INR 4 lacs each. Aimed at enabling higher education for the brightest and best students in India, the total value of the scholarships awarded this year is Rs. 2.36 crores. The scholars will be pursuing their post-graduation in a wide range of subjects including Computer Science, Engineering, MBA, Architecture, Design, Law, Public Policy and Economics.
 
The selection committee comprised of eminent leaders including Anand Mahindra, Chairman, Mahindra Group; Bharat Doshi, Chairman, Mahindra Intertrade Ltd.; Ulhas Yargop, Chairman, Bristlecone; Dr. (Mrs.) Indu Shahani, President and Chair - Indian School of Design & Innovation and Indian School of Management & Entrepreneurship; Ranjan Pant, CEO Advisor, Global Strategy Management Consultant & Change Management Expert; Vikram Singh Mehta -Chairman & Senior Fellow Brookings India, Leena Labroo, Partner at Niana; Aishwarya Ramakrishnan, Head - Strategy, Marketing & Operating Excellence Farming as a Service, Farm Equipment Sector, M&M and Shruti Agarwal, EA to the Chairman, Mahindra Group who interviewed the shortlisted candidates over a period of two days.

Many of the KCMET scholars are not only carrying out path-breaking research and teaching at reputed institutions but are also manning and leading national and international banking, commercial and financial institutions, multinational corporations, providing quality health care and legal services and entering sunrise industries such as IT, Biotechnology, Computing, including areas such as Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence, Robotics and so on.

This was the very first scholarship program set up at the Trust by the founder, Mr. K C Mahindra, and it continues to offer bright Indian students the possibility of pursuing their higher education at reputed universities abroad.