More TN SC/ST students choosing to study abroad thanks to revised scholarship scheme

The scholarship is being given to students who are getting admission to the best-ranking universities as per the QS ranking.

Study Abroad: The Tamil Nadu government offers an Overseas Scheme to encourage the Scheduled Tribes, Adi Dravidar, and Christian Adi Dravidar students to pursue doctoral and postgraduate studies in universities abroad. To be eligible for this scholarship, the student's family income should not exceed Rs 8 lakh per annum.

As per the report of The Hindu, the number of SC and ST students in Tamil Nadu availing this scholarship opportunity to achieve their dream of studying abroad has increased in the last few years. This has reportedly happened after the scholarship scheme was restructured in 2023.

It was launched in 2003 when there was a limit on the number of scholarships and hence only a few could avail of it till 2022-23. However, later the scheme was restructured by the Department of Adi Dravidar and Tribal Welfare and the cap was removed on the number of graduates, and also changes were made in other provisions, the number of students who could avail this scheme also increased.

G. Laxmi Priya, Secretary, Adi Dravidar and Tribal Welfare Department, said, "The process to get the scholarship had been simplified in the last two years, and the selection committee was also scrapped to reduce the time in processing applications."

"A graduate from Puthirai Vannar community who completed her undergraduate degree in Anna University, got an offer from the Cornell University for a Master of Science in Advanced Urban Design this year. She is the first graduate from the community to pursue higher education in a global university," added K. Surya.

TN Overseas Scheme: Details

Under this, the students get a scholarship of up to Rs 36 lakh per annum depending on the course of study and the country of the study. This scholarship is granted to the person who gets admission to the best 1000 institutions ranked by Quacquarelli Symonds in the Global Ranking of Institutions. The students also get coaching for study abroad qualifying exams including TOEFL, GRE, IELTS, and GMAT. The coaching is given by TAHDCO. Only one student from a family can avail Overseas Scholarship.

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