The IET Announces 6th Edition of IET India Scholarship Award to Recognize Future Engineering Leaders

Previous winners have gone on to join industry stalwarts like Apple, Boeing, Deloitte and MIT, and some have even become entrepreneurs themselves. This is the first step in a rigorous 4-stage process which tests students on academic and technical parameters, as well as creativity, innovation and presentation skills.

Shekhar Sanyal, Director and Country Head, IET India said, "The IET India Scholarship Award was initiated with the core objective of identifying the engineering leaders of tomorrow and also, encouraging young people entering the profession. After an extremely successful re-launch last year, I am thrilled to be announcing the opening of applications for our sixth edition. Through this Award, we hope to recognise creativity, innovation, leadership and excellence in our undergraduate students, and further encourage them to contribute to India's flourishing technology ecosystem. The previous editions have witnessed an incredible response, and we are looking forward to sustaining the momentum this year as well."

The IET India Scholarship Award 2022 is led by a highly empowered and respected Advisory board, comprising of academicians and corporate professionals of national repute who helped build a strong framework for the IET India Scholarship Award. The committee is chaired by Prof Abhijit Chakrabarti, Former Vice Chancellor, Jadavpur University, Kolkata; Chairman - IET India Scholarship Award.

Prof Abhijit Chakrabarti said, "It gives me immense pleasure to announce the opening of the sixth edition of the IET India Scholarship Award, and I am looking forward to get engaged with some of the brightest young minds in the engineering world. It has been heartening to see the impact of the award on our past winners, and it has been a delight to witness their achievements over the years. The quality of work presented is exponentially going up, and we are expecting the competition to be tight. I highly encourage all undergraduate engineering students to make the most of this opportunity and put their best foot forward to prove their mettle."

The Award evaluates participants across parameters that include academic performance, extracurricular activities, range of outreach activities and their ability to come up with creative engineering solutions to solve societal challenges. In the first round, students are shortlisted based on their academic performance as well as extracurricular activities. They then progress to an online test on STEM subjects and technical expertise. Students that clear the cut-off score are then invited to present their technological solution to a pertinent societal challenge in the regional rounds. Regional winners finally battle it out in the national finals to win the title.

"India's engineering landscape is rapidly evolving, with the whole world now recognising the country as a hub for R&D and innovation. Furthering our technological prowess necessitates that we tap into the immense potential of our youth, and offer opportunities to explore, engage and demonstrate their skills. Every year, the challenges we set are tougher, and the solutions we get are just as creative. This year too, we are very excited to see the innovative ideas that applicants will bring to the table," said Ujani Ghosh, who leads the project at IET India.

The past five editions of the IET India Scholarship Award have received over 35,000 applications in total, with over 16000 entries last year alone. Instituted in 2013, the annual IET India Scholarship Award underlines IET India's commitment to India's engineering community. The programme aims to reward innovative thinking from the next crop of engineers entering the workforce, and is part of a wide number of IET India initiatives focused at improving the quality of engineering in India. Applications are now open for the 2022 edition.

For more information, please visit - bit.ly/ScholarshipAward2022.

About the IET

Institution of Engineering and Technology - India: The IET office started operations in India in 2006, in Bangalore. Given the increasing global importance of India as an engineering hub, our aim is to make an impact that has relevance both locally and internationally. Our strategy is to make a meaningful impact on the overall competency and skill levels within the Indian engineering community and play an influencing role with industry in relation to technology innovation and solving problems of public importance. We want to do this by working in partnership with industry, academia and government, focussing on the application of practical skills within both learning & career lifecycles, driving innovation and thought leadership through high impact sectors.