The Odisha government has launched the new ‘Videsh Siksha Bruti’ scholarship scheme to support Scheduled Caste (SC) and Scheduled Tribe (ST) students from the state who wish to pursue postgraduate and PhD courses at leading foreign universities.

The Higher Education Department (DHE) has invited applications through the state scholarship portal, with the deadline set for August 31. Eligible students can apply for financial assistance for foreign studies for both the 2025-26 and 2026-27 academic sessions.

The scholarship has been introduced under the Mukhyamantri Medhabi Chhatra Protsahan Yojana (MMCPY). The scheme aims to provide financial support to Odisha-domiciled SC and ST students seeking admission to top 200 universities and institutes ranked by QS.

Students pursuing postgraduate or doctoral programmes in disciplines including engineering, technical education, medicine, agriculture, architecture and other higher education fields can benefit from the scheme.

Videsh Siksha Bruti: Who Is Eligible?

To qualify, applicants must be domiciled in Odisha and belong to the SC or ST communities. The annual family income must not exceed Rs 12 lakh.

The government plans to support around 50 students every year under the scholarship. Of these, 10 students will be selected for engineering and technical education, another 10 for medical, agriculture, architecture and other technical courses, while 30 students will be supported for courses under the Higher Education Department.

Each selected candidate will be eligible to receive financial assistance of up to Rs 25 lakh per year to support their studies abroad.

However, the scholarship comes with several conditions. Students receiving financial assistance under the scheme cannot simultaneously avail themselves of another scholarship or financial support from the state or Central government, public sector undertakings, private institutions or individuals.

Students facing disciplinary proceedings or criminal charges will also be ineligible for assistance under the scheme.

Candidates who have already completed higher education abroad will not qualify, even if they financed their previous studies themselves.

Applications to Be Invited Twice a Year

The Odisha government plans to invite applications under the Videsh Siksha Bruti scheme twice every year. The application windows are expected during July-August and December-January, allowing eligible students to seek support for different academic admission cycles.

The initiative is aimed at expanding access to international higher education for meritorious students from economically disadvantaged SC and ST communities. By providing substantial financial assistance, the government hopes to reduce the cost barrier associated with studying at leading foreign universities.

The launch comes as Indian students increasingly look towards international universities for postgraduate and doctoral education. For students from disadvantaged communities, the scholarship could provide an opportunity to access globally ranked institutions that may otherwise remain financially out of reach.

Eligible students seeking to pursue PG or PhD programmes abroad should check the Odisha state scholarship portal for the latest application requirements, documentation and deadlines before submitting their applications.

The MITACS Globalink Research Internship 2027 is now open for applications, offering international undergraduate students an opportunity to undertake a fully funded research internship at Canadian universities.

The programme is designed for international students interested in gaining research experience and working with faculty members at Canadian institutions. The internship runs for 12 weeks between May 1 and October 31, 2027.

Students do not need to submit an IELTS score as part of the stated programme requirements.

MITACS Globalink Internship 2027: Key details

• Host country: Canada
• Programme: MITACS Globalink Research Internship 2027
• Duration: 12 weeks
• Internship period: May 1 to October 31, 2027
• Funding: Fully funded
• Application deadline: September 16, 2026
• Eligible applicants: International undergraduate students and students enrolled in combined undergraduate/master's programmes
• Host institutions: More than 70 academic institutions across Canada

MITACS Globalink financial benefits

Selected interns receive financial support covering several expenses associated with travelling to and undertaking the internship in Canada.

The programme provides:

• Round-trip airfare to and from Canada
• Airport transfers to accommodation
• Housing support
• Health insurance
• A stipend towards student enrolment fees of up to CAD 300
• A stipend for food and incidental expenses
• Support from student mentors at the Canadian host institution
• Registration for industry events and professional development courses
• A Globalink Research Internship certificate upon completion

Countries eligible for MITACS Globalink 2027

Students from the following countries are eligible to apply, subject to the programme's country-specific university and eligibility requirements:

Austria, Brazil, Chile, China, Colombia, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Jordan, Mexico, Pakistan, Peru, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, Tunisia, Ukraine, the United Kingdom and the United States.

Applicants should check whether their university is included among the eligible institutions for their country before applying.

MITACS Globalink Internship 2027 eligibility

Applicants must meet the eligibility requirements applicable to their country and university. The general requirements include:

• Be at least 18 years old.
• Meet the applicable GPA requirement for the applicant's country.
• Have one to three semesters remaining in their programme as of fall 2027.
• A valid passport is not required at the time of application.
• Obtain a reference letter from a professor.
• Submit an updated CV.
• Provide academic transcripts in English or French.
• Apply to at least three and up to 10 research projects.
• Select projects from at least three different Canadian provinces.

Applicants should carefully review the country-specific requirements before submitting their applications.

How to apply for MITACS Globalink Internship 2027

Students should first verify their eligibility and confirm that their university is included in the list of eligible institutions.

They should then identify suitable research projects and prepare the required documents, including their CV, academic transcripts and professor's reference letter.

Applicants must select a minimum of three and a maximum of 10 projects, ensuring that their choices span at least three Canadian provinces.

After submitting the application, eligible applications are reviewed by professors and researchers associated with the selected projects. Applicants may subsequently be considered for placement based on their academic background, research interests and project requirements.

Deadline: September 16, 2026.

Candidates should verify all eligibility conditions, participating universities, project requirements and application instructions on the official MITACS website before applying.

The Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT Madras) has invited applications for its Institute Post-Doctoral Fellowship programme for researchers who have completed their PhD and wish to pursue advanced research at the institute.

The fellowship is aimed at researchers looking to strengthen their academic and research careers through independent work under the guidance of IIT Madras faculty members.

IIT Madras fellowship 2026: Who can apply?

According to the fellowship guidelines, candidates must have completed their PhD within five years before applying. Candidates who have submitted their PhD thesis may also apply, subject to fulfilling the required conditions.

The maximum age limit is 32 years on the date of joining the fellowship.

Age relaxation is available for certain categories. SC, ST and women candidates will receive a five-year relaxation, while OBC-NCL candidates will be eligible for a three-year relaxation.

Candidates are also required to demonstrate a strong research record. Applicants must have at least two Q1 journal publications in which they are listed as the primary contributor.

Candidates who have submitted their PhD thesis but have not yet received the degree can apply. However, they will be required to submit a provisional degree certificate within six months of joining the fellowship.

How to apply for IIT Madras Post-Doctoral Fellowship

Applicants must first identify an IIT Madras faculty member whose research area aligns with their proposed work.

Candidates are required to discuss their research proposal with the faculty member and obtain their consent before submitting the application.

Once submitted, applications will undergo scrutiny by the concerned department. Eligible candidates will then be invited to give a seminar, during which their research proposal and expertise will be assessed.

The Departmental Evaluation Committee will evaluate factors including the originality of the proposed research, the candidate's research experience and the potential contribution of the proposed work to the department.

Candidates who successfully clear the departmental evaluation will move to the next stage of the selection process.

The shortlisted applicants will be considered by the Institute Selection Committee, which will conduct interviews before making recommendations to the Director for final approval.

IIT Madras fellowship tenure

The Institute Post-Doctoral Fellowship will have a minimum tenure of two years.

Initially, the fellowship will be offered for one year. It may subsequently be extended for up to two additional years, depending on the fellow's research performance and other applicable conditions.

Interested candidates should carefully review the official fellowship guidelines and application requirements before applying.

Applications for the Chevening Scholarship 2027 are open for professionals and aspiring leaders seeking to pursue a fully funded one-year master’s degree in the United Kingdom.

Funded by the UK Government, the Chevening Scholarship is one of the UK’s flagship international scholarship programmes. It offers talented professionals from more than 160 countries and territories the opportunity to study at eligible UK universities while developing academic, professional and leadership skills.

For the 2027 intake, applicants must submit their scholarship applications by October 6, 2026.

Chevening Scholarship 2027: Key Details

• Host country: United Kingdom
• Degree: Master’s degree
• Duration: One year
• Scholarship type: Fully funded
• Application deadline: October 6, 2026

What Does the Chevening Scholarship Cover?

The scholarship provides comprehensive financial support to successful candidates. Benefits include tuition fees, return international airfare and allowances to help cover living and accommodation costs.

The award also includes an arrival allowance, departure allowance, visa application fee and a contribution of up to £75 towards tuberculosis testing, where required. Scholars may also receive a travel top-up allowance.

Who Can Apply?

Applicants must be citizens of a Chevening-eligible country or territory and must commit to returning to their home country for at least two years after completing the scholarship.

Candidates need at least two years of work experience, equivalent to 2,800 hours. Applicants must also hold an undergraduate degree that qualifies them for admission to a postgraduate programme in the UK.

Importantly, eligible work experience must be gained after graduation. This can include full-time or part-time employment, voluntary work and paid or unpaid internships. Work experience accumulated while studying is no longer eligible.

English Language Requirements

Chevening itself does not require applicants to submit an English language test score. However, individual UK universities may have their own English-language requirements. Applicants should therefore check the requirements of their selected courses and universities.

Choose Three UK Master’s Courses

Applicants must select three different eligible master’s courses. These can be three courses at the same university or similar courses at up to three different UK universities.

Applicants should make their choices carefully because the selected courses cannot be changed later in the application process.

Candidates can apply for university admission before or after submitting their Chevening application. However, they must obtain an unconditional offer from at least one selected course by the deadline specified in the Chevening application timeline.

How to Apply for Chevening Scholarship 2027

Applicants should begin by selecting their eligible country or territory and reviewing the official application guidance. They should then identify eligible courses, submit applications to UK universities and complete the Chevening scholarship application before the deadline.

With full tuition coverage, travel support and living allowances, the Chevening Scholarship 2027 offers an opportunity for international students and professionals to pursue postgraduate education in the UK without bearing the majority of associated costs.

India's premier engineering institutions have stepped up faculty recruitment, filling more than 3,500 positions across the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) between September 2022 and May 2026.

The number marks a significant recruitment push after years of concern over faculty shortages.

But one crucial question remains unanswered: Are IITs now meeting the faculty-to-student ratio required to support their rapidly expanding student population?

A recent response from the Ministry of Education in the Lok Sabha provides details of the recruitment drive but does not disclose the current faculty-student ratio for individual IITs. It also does not provide institute-wise data showing sanctioned, filled and vacant faculty positions over the past five years.

That leaves the scale of the remaining faculty shortage difficult to assess.

IITs Fill Over 3,500 Faculty Vacancies Since 2022

The Ministry of Education told Parliament that all Central Higher Educational Institutions were advised in September 2022 to undertake faculty recruitment in “mission mode” to address vacancies.

Following the directive, IITs filled more than 3,500 faculty posts between September 2022 and May 2026.

However, the ministry stressed that faculty recruitment cannot be treated as a one-time exercise.

Faculty vacancies continue to emerge because of retirements and resignations. At the same time, IITs are expanding student intake, launching new academic programmes and increasing their teaching and research activities.

As a result, IITs continue to issue recruitment advertisements throughout the year.

Around 460 Visiting Faculty Members Working Across IITs

Permanent faculty recruitment is not the only way IITs are addressing their teaching requirements.

According to the ministry's parliamentary response, around 460 visiting faculty members are currently engaged in teaching and other academic activities across the IIT system.

The institutes also rely on:

• Guest faculty
• Adjunct faculty
• Professors of Practice
• Other academic appointments

These arrangements allow IITs to bring specialised expertise from industry, research organisations and other universities into their classrooms.

However, visiting and adjunct appointments are not equivalent to building a permanent faculty base.

For an institution that combines teaching with intensive research, a stable pool of permanent faculty remains important for long-term academic planning, student mentoring and research supervision.

What Did the Lok Sabha Question Ask?

The issue was raised by Congress MP Shashi Tharoor, who sought detailed information on faculty recruitment and staffing across the IIT system.

Among other things, the parliamentary questions sought to know:

• Whether the government or IIT Council has prescribed a faculty-to-student ratio
• The actual faculty-student ratio at each IIT
• The number of permanent and visiting faculty members over the past five years
• The sanctioned, filled and vacant faculty positions at individual IITs
• Measures to attract IIT alumni with PhDs into permanent faculty positions
• Steps to convert long-serving visiting or ad-hoc faculty members into permanent positions

The latest response, however, did not provide the detailed institute-wise figures sought.

IITs Have a 1:10 Faculty-Student Norm

The issue becomes more significant because IITs have a stated benchmark for faculty requirements.

An earlier Lok Sabha response in August 2025 stated that faculty posts in IITs are sanctioned on the basis of a 1:10 faculty-to-student ratio.

In simple terms, the norm envisages approximately one faculty member for every 10 students.

The government has also described faculty sanctioning as a dynamic and continuous process, with requirements reviewed according to the needs of individual IITs.

But the latest parliamentary response does not establish whether individual institutes are currently meeting that benchmark.

And that distinction is important.

Filling 3,500 vacancies may appear to represent a major improvement. But the number of appointments alone cannot determine whether the faculty shortage has been resolved.

The actual ratio depends on both the number of faculty members in position and the number of students enrolled.

IIT Faculty Shortage Has Been a Long-Standing Issue

The latest recruitment figures need to be viewed against a much longer history of faculty shortages in the IIT system.

In 2016, reports highlighted around 2,600 vacant faculty positions across IITs. At the time, the student-teacher ratio was reported to be approximately 15:1, higher than the desirable 10:1 benchmark.

The challenge became more complicated as the IIT system expanded.

Student intake increased, new programmes were introduced and the institutions expanded their postgraduate and doctoral education and research activities.

By August 2022, a parliamentary response placed the number of vacant teaching posts across the 23 IITs at 4,596.

The mission-mode recruitment programme launched soon afterwards was intended to tackle this substantial backlog.

IIT Council Considered Counting PhD Scholars

The faculty shortage had previously prompted the IIT Council to consider an unconventional approach to calculating the student-teacher ratio.

A proposal accepted by the council suggested that five PhD scholars could be counted as equivalent to one faculty member for the purpose of calculating the ratio.

The argument was that doctoral scholars also contribute to undergraduate teaching and other academic activities.

With approximately 26,000 PhD scholars in the IIT system at the time, the proposal could potentially have added nearly 5,000 faculty-equivalent positions to the calculation.

While the move was intended to address the gap between the existing ratio and the 1:10 benchmark, it also highlighted the difficulty IITs faced in recruiting sufficient permanent faculty.

Counting doctoral scholars, however, is different from increasing the number of permanent professors responsible for teaching, research supervision and institutional responsibilities.

IITs Expand Recruitment Beyond Traditional Channels

The Ministry of Education has indicated that the IIT Council has discussed several strategies to strengthen faculty recruitment.

These include:

• Rolling faculty recruitment
• Special recruitment drives
• Recruitment of foreign faculty
• Hiring eligible Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) cardholders
• Institutional performance reviews
• Regular monitoring of faculty recruitment

The measures reflect the growing competition for highly qualified academics.

IITs are competing not only with other Indian institutions but also with universities and research organisations around the world for faculty with strong academic and research credentials.

Is the IIT Faculty Shortage Really Over?

The recruitment of more than 3,500 faculty members since September 2022 is undoubtedly significant.

But recruitment numbers alone cannot answer whether IITs now have enough teachers.

The missing piece is current, institute-wise data.

Without knowing the number of students and faculty at each IIT — along with sanctioned, filled and vacant posts — it is difficult to determine whether the institutions are meeting the 1:10 benchmark.

The question is particularly important as IITs continue to increase student intake, introduce new programmes and expand research.

For students, faculty strength affects much more than classroom teaching. It can influence access to mentors, laboratory work, research opportunities, project supervision and overall academic interaction.

The next step, therefore, is not simply to count how many vacancies have been filled.

It is to ask whether the faculty strength has kept pace with the growth of the IIT student population.

Until detailed institute-wise figures are made available, the answer remains unclear.

Young people working in human rights, democracy, youth participation and advocacy have an opportunity to attend an international training programme in France without paying for travel, accommodation or meals.

The Council of Europe Youth Advocacy for Democracy and Human Rights Training Course 2026 will be held at the European Youth Centre Strasbourg from September 27 to October 4, 2026.

The fully funded programme will bring together up to 30 young activists and youth civil society representatives to develop practical advocacy skills and learn how to engage more effectively with policymakers and decision-makers.

The application deadline is August 14, 2026.

Council of Europe Training Course 2026: Key Details

• Host organisation: Council of Europe
• Training: Youth Advocacy for Democracy and Human Rights
• Venue: European Youth Centre Strasbourg, France
• Dates: September 27–October 4, 2026
• Duration: 8 days
• Number of participants: Up to 30
• Funding: Fully funded
• Application deadline: August 14, 2026

What Is the Youth Advocacy Training Course?

The training course is organised by the Council of Europe Youth Department as part of the Youth Revitalising Democracy project.

The programme focuses on helping young leaders and youth civil society representatives become more effective advocates for democracy, human rights, the rule of law and meaningful youth participation.

Rather than being limited to classroom learning, the training is designed to help participants understand how advocacy works in practice — from developing a strategy to communicating with decision-makers and turning ideas into concrete initiatives.

What Will Participants Learn?

During the eight-day training, participants are expected to strengthen their understanding of:

• The Council of Europe and its institutions
• European standards on democracy and human rights
• Youth participation in democratic processes
• Human-rights-based advocacy
• Advocacy strategy development
• Engagement with decision-makers
• Planning and implementing advocacy initiatives

The programme can be particularly useful for young people who are already active in civil society and want to build the skills needed to influence policies and strengthen youth participation.

Fully Funded: What Does the Programme Cover?

Selected participants will receive financial support from the Council of Europe.

The funding package includes:

• International travel expenses
• Visa-related costs
• Accommodation
• Meals
• Stay at the European Youth Centre Strasbourg

This means selected participants can attend the training without having to bear the major costs associated with travelling to France.

Who Can Apply?

The training is primarily aimed at young people between 18 and 30 years old, although exceptions may be considered in justified cases.

Applicants should generally:

• Represent a national youth council, international youth organisation or network, or another youth civil society organisation
• Hold a leadership role in their organisation
• Be in a position to follow up on advocacy initiatives after the training
• Demonstrate a commitment to democracy, human rights, the rule of law and youth participation
• Be able to work independently in English
• Be resident in a state party to the European Cultural Convention, although exceptions may be considered where justified

Applicants should therefore demonstrate more than a general interest in human rights or democracy. Experience in youth leadership, advocacy or civil society can strengthen their application.

Who Should Apply?

The opportunity may be particularly relevant for young people involved in:

• Youth organisations
• Youth councils
• Human rights initiatives
• Democracy and civic engagement
• Youth participation programmes
• Advocacy campaigns
• Civil society organisations
• Community initiatives
• Policy and decision-making
• Youth leadership

For young activists already working with communities or youth organisations, the training could provide an opportunity to develop their advocacy approach while building connections with other youth leaders from across Europe and beyond.

How to Apply for the Council of Europe Training Course 2026

Eligible applicants must complete the online application form before the deadline.

The application deadline is August 14, 2026.

Since the deadline is approaching, prospective applicants should check the official programme information and eligibility requirements carefully before submitting their applications.

Why This Opportunity Matters

Young people are increasingly involved in campaigns around human rights, democratic participation, social inclusion and public policy. However, turning community concerns into effective policy advocacy requires specific skills — including understanding institutions, identifying decision-makers, building evidence-based arguments and developing sustainable advocacy strategies.

The Council of Europe training course is designed around precisely these skills.

For eligible young leaders, the programme offers not only fully funded international training in Strasbourg but also an opportunity to strengthen their understanding of European democratic institutions and develop practical tools for future advocacy work.

Application deadline: August 14, 2026.