BY ARTI DAS
The Goa Education Trust (GET), initiated by two major industrial groups - The Dempo Group and the Fomento Group - under their Corporate Social Responsibility was officially registered yesterday.
The groups have taken the step to tie-up with the British Council to make available to Goan students the best of the education system from the United Kingdom.
Speaking with ‘The Navhind Times’ Mr Simon Gammell, director (West India), British Council stated that under this trust they plan to give five scholarships to deserving Goan students.
The British Council deals with scholarships to the UK. They take care of the administrative issues with regard to selection.
The Dempo Group and the Fomento Group have contributed equally to the corpus required for GET - approximately Rs 10 crore over the next five years.
“This scholarship programme will start in September. For this scholarship we will select the Goan graduates for a one-year post-graduation course. It being competitive in nature we will select students who have performed well in academics with leadership potential,” stated Mr Gammell.
He also stressed that these students should be committed to Goa and should return to their motherland. “The GET is being initiated by reputed industrial groups of Goa. So, the students should contribute to the future of Goa. I am not saying that they should come down immediately but they should play a role in the future of Goa,” he added.
The courses offered range from the more traditional courses like management, IT, and economics to the less traditional like media, fashion/design, etc. The scholarship programme is quite flexible and students can choose their own university from among the 120-odd universities in the UK.
Traditionally Indian students have been going to the UK for higher education. “Last year we had 45,000 students coming to the UK from India and this figure is increasing every year by 10-15 per cent,” stated Mr Simon Gammell.
Commenting about the state of education in India he remarked that provisions for better universities and educational institutes should be made. On a concluding note he added that the Union Education Minister’s plan to open foreign universities in India is a welcome step as it will bring in quality education.
