The Centre has announced 50 Quad scholarships, worth $500,000, to students from the Indo-Pacific region to pursue a four-year undergraduate engineering programme at a government of India funded technical institution. This announcement comes after PM Narendra Modi attended the Quad Summit in Clayton, Delaware in US President Joe Biden’s alma mater Archmere Academy along with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.
While attending the meeting, Prime Minister Modi said Quad is “not against anybody and is here to stay”. “Quad is essential for humanity. We want a rules-based international order and want a peaceful resolution to ongoing conflicts. Free, open and inclusive Indo-Pacific is a joint commitment,” the PM said. While Biden said Quad is a group of ‘democracies who get things done’.
Australian PM Albanese pointed out during the meeting that the Quad is dedicated to delivering impactful outcomes in several important sectors such as clean energy, critical technologies, and counter-terrorism. The Quad leaders had also attended the Cancer Moonshot Event where they announced measures to boost support for cancer patients in the Indo-Pacific. PM Modi pledged 40 million vaccine doses to Indo-Pacific countries under the GAVI and Quad initiatives.
The Institute of International Education has meanwhile announced its second cohort of fellows. It has extended the programme to include students from countries that are part of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). Quad Fellows are usually selected from Australia, India, Japan, the United States and the 10 Southeast Asian countries of Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam. “Prospective Fellows are expected to demonstrate academic excellence, exceptional results in their field, and a desire to use their talents to promote collective good,” reads the official notice on the website.
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