The Government of the Maldives has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with JAIN University in Bangalore, India, to facilitate undergraduate engineering scholarships to Maldivians.
Minister of Higher Education Dr. Ibrahim Hassan signed the MoU with Chancellor of JAIN University Dr. Chenraj Roychand. The MoU facilitates 25 undergraduate engineering scholarships over five years for Maldivian students.
During his visit to India, Minister Hassan also paid a courtesy call on Dr. Ashwath Narayan, Minister of Electronics, Information Technology, Science and Technology, and Higher Education of the Government of Karnataka. During the meeting, they discussed ways in which Karnataka could assist the Maldives in the areas of higher education and skills development.
The Maldivian government has been providing loans and scholarship opportunities for Maldivians to study in fields that are in need of human resources including health, tourism, and education. As such, scholarship opportunities have been provided for Maldivians to study in countries such as the UK, Japan, and Hungary.
In April, President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih inaugurated the Honorary Consuls Scholarship Programme as part of his pledge to build an educated younger generation. The programme aims to provide 44 scholarship opportunities from honorary consuls in India, Thailand, Pakistan, Turkey, Lebanon, and Germany.
The introduction of the Honorary Consul Scholarship Programme was initiated in 2019 in line with President Solih’s pledge to enable equal opportunities for all students who wish to pursue higher education. The programme would see the awarding of 44 scholarship opportunities from 2022 to 2023, arranged by seven contributing honorary consuls.
At the inauguration ceremony, President Solih said that over 12,000 students have enrolled in undergraduate programmes through the administration’s Free Education Scheme for Degree Students and that over 2,000 students have completed their education. He added that the administration is determined to provide more scholarship opportunities under public-private partnerships and provide free higher education opportunities to at least 20,000 students by the end of 2023.