PATNA: United States-India Educational Foundation (USIEF) senior programme manager Sudarsan Das on Wednesday encouraged the local scholars to apply for Fulbright scholarships for carrying out studies, research, teaching and professional development in the US.
Addressing the students at NIT Patna here, he said that outstanding students, academics, teachers, policy planners, administrators and professionals in all disciplines can apply for these fellowships. USIEF expects to offer approximately 110 Fulbright-Nehru fellowships for Indians in 2012, he said.
Giving details of the Fulbright-Nehru programme in India, he said that the Indo-US agreement on educational exchange signed by the then PM, Jawaharlal Nehru, and US ambassador Loy Henderson on February 2, 1950, in New Delhi, established USIEF in India to administer the Fulbright programme. On July 4, 2008, the government of India and US government signed a new agreement to strengthen educational exchanges between the two countries. Since 1950, USIEF has awarded approximately 8,700 Fulbright fellowships to Indians and Americans.
Earlier, Das was welcomed on the campus by NIT Patna director U C Ray and registrar Vidya Sagar. NIT Patna placement officer Sanjeev Sinha coordinated the event and proposed the vote of thanks.