SASNET: Education Funding

Scholarships for South Asian studies

The Scholarships-Links.com contains Postdoc, PhD, masters and Bachelors scholarship announcements from universities and institutes all over the World. It is a free resource and managed by a group of students. The site is helping the student community from all over the world with 100,000 monthly visits from over 170 countries.

The Masters student Petra Bergquist, from the Gender Studies programme, Lund University, was selected by the Centre for Research and Education for Social Transformation (CREST) in Kozhikode, India, for an internship from 1 June 2009. She worked with a group of 40 graduates from Dalit/Adivasi and minority communities of Kerala who are undergoing Post Graduate Certificate Course for Professional Development at CREST. Full information about the internships offered by CREST.

The Nordic Institute for Asian Studies (NIAS) offers scholarships for visiting Nordic MA students and PhD candidates to its research centre and library in Copenhagen, through the so called NIAS SUPRA programme (Support Programme for Asian Studies). Students affiliated with institutions that are members of the Nordic NIAS Council (see www.nias.ku.dk) are offered full scholarships that cover travel expenses, accommodation and full board at the ”Nordisk Kollegium”, whereas students from non-members of Nordic NIAS Council will have to pay for accommodation and transportation themselves. For students from Lund University there is also an alternative, namely Öresund Scholarships. In this case NIAS reimburses daily commuting costs to/from Copenhagen. Application deadlines for SUPRA scholarships are three times a year. More information.

For several years, scholarships for studies at Indian universities were offered on a reciprocal basis for maximum two Swedish students every year by the Indian government through the Indian Council of Cultural Relations (ICCR) in New Delhi. Every year, ICCR offers nearly 2000 scholarships to international students from over 70 countries to study in different universities and educational institutions spread all over India to pursue courses from under-graduate to post-doctoral level in various subjects. Scholarships are available also for research work and non-formal courses in religion, classical music, dance and crafts. More information about the ICCR scholarships.

Wdith Humble The scholarships open for Swedish students used to cover tuition fees, and board and lodging costs. They were primarily given to university students below 35 years of age that wish to pursue 1–2 years of training in dance or music at an Indian academic institution. Applications for scholarships were managed through the Swedish Institute in Stockholm, who passed them on to the Embassy of India in Stockholm, before a final decision was taken by the ICCR. During the academic year 2007-08, the Swedish student given a scholarship was Edith Humble from Stockholm, who studied Chau and Odissi dance at Shriram Bharatiya Kala Kendra in New Delhi. She was interviewed by Shruti Vashist in India Today digital magazine (March 6, 2008), in an article titled ”Culture curry”, featuring a photo of Ms. Humble (see above).
The Swedish scholarships have however now been
withdrawn.

A report on Studying Indian Languages has been prepared by Gunilla Gren-Eklund, professor of Indology, especially Sanskrit, Dept for African and Asian Languages at Uppsala University; and Stig Toft Madsen, Lecturer, International Development Studies at Roskilde University, Denmark. The comprehensive report is based on experiences from two journeys, one of them a tour visiting educational institutions in Mussorie, Delhi, Hyderabad, Mysore, and Baroda in India, in November 2001; and the second a tour to institutions in the U.S. in June 2001. The report is available here, as a pdf-file.

Minor Field Studies (MFS) grants

Sida (the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency) offers Minor Field Studies (MFS) grants to undergraduate students at Swedish universities and colleges. MFS grants aim to provide students at C or D level with the opportunity to carry out minor field studies in developing countries, including South Asia. The stipend programme is handled by the International Programme Office for Education and Training (Internationella Programkontoret). Applications should be made through the students own departments. Deadline for applications: 1 November every year. More information about the MFS grants.
Students given MFS grants should undergo a preparatory two-day course, organised by Internationella Programkontoret 25 times a year at three locations: Uppsala University, Gothenburg University and Umeå University. More information about the courses.
A large number of Swedish undergraduate students have got MFS grants to do thesis work in developing countries. A searchable database where all MFS theses since 2003 are presented in full-text is available. Go to the database.
See also specific lists of South Asia related MFS projects during the period 2003-07:
               – Afghanistan (1 project)
               – Bangladesh (17 projects)
               – India (120 projects)
               – Nepal (7 projects)
               – Pakistan (3 projects)
               – Sri Lanka (29 projects)
        No projects were carried out in Bhutan
        and the Maldives.

Internationella programkontoret

The Swedish International Programme Office for Education and Training (Internationella programkontoret) has a mission to make it easier for those working with education and training in Sweden to participate in international co-operation. It administers some 50 different programmes and actions for internationalising education. One of these programmes deal with internationalisation projects for schools. In March 2006 applications for 160 collaboration projects between schools in Sweden and in other countries were given more than SEK 7 million as grants. Out of these five projects are related to South Asia: Mörbyskolan in Danderyd received SEK 24 000 for a project with Sri Lanka; Enskede gårds gymnasium/Lindeparkens gymnasiesärskola received SEK 74 000 for a project with Sri Lanka; Sandenskolan, Boden received SEK 120 000 for a project with Sri Lanka; Hagagymnasiet, Norrköping, received SEK 48 000 for a project with India; and Adolfsbergsskolan, Örebro. received SEK 24 000 for a project with India.
More information about the school grants.

SWEDISH SOUTH ASIAN STUDIES NETWORK

Education Funding