Swinburne supports Indian scholars

Under a new Victorian Government program, ten of India’s outstanding PhD students will receive scholarships worth $90,000 to study at Victorian universities next year.

Swinburne University of Technology, along with eight other Victorian universities, will also waive tuition fees for the scholarship recipients under the Victoria India Doctoral Scholarships program announced this week.

Swinburne Vice-President (International and Development) Jeffrey Smart said the scheme offered an attractive incentive for India’s high-achieving students to come to Victoria for doctoral studies.

“Victoria is a great place for Indian students to pursue a higher degree. It is a multicultural community which values the contribution that international students make to our social fabric,” he said. “By financially supporting these bright students we can allow them to focus their time and energy on their research.”

Mr Smart said that the scholarships will also strengthen the relationship between Swinburne and India.

“Swinburne has been in co-operation with India for 20 years and has established a number of research and educational partnerships with Indian institutions.

“This scheme will build on this relationship by supporting research that will make a real difference to Australia and India’s environmental, social and economic future,” he said.

There are currently more than 150,000 international students studying in Victorian education institutions.

One of these is Mr Aravindhan Ganesan, a Pondicherry-born student whose research investigates the supercomputer-generated models of amino acids and their molecular partners.

Mr Ganesan moved from India to Swinburne in 2008 to undertake his PhD under the supervision of Professor Feng Wang, a renowned researcher in the molecular spectroscopy field.

“I didn’t know a lot about Swinburne before I came, but there are excellent facilities and opportunities here – access not only to Swinburne’s supercomputer, but also supercomputers in other institutions across Australia, which I can use from my own desk,” Mr Ganesan said.

"I was really impresses by all the facilities to help me with my research and it has enabled my work to move along at a much faster pace," he said.

The Victoria India Doctoral Scholarships program complements the existing Victorian International Research Scholarships scheme. There are two students, Ms Sepideh Minagar from Iran and Argentinean Mr Gonzalo Diaz, studying at Swinburne under these scholarships.

Applications for Victoria India Doctoral Scholarships will open in August and close in October. For more information visit: http://www.studymelbourne.vic.gov.au/scholarships  

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