Airtel Foundation Rolls Out ₹100 Crore Scholarship for Tech-Savvy Students: Support for Future Engineers in Top Colleges

The Bharti Airtel Foundation, the charity arm of Bharti Enterprises, has started a scholarship programme to support technology-based engineering students. This programme will cover the full cost of undergraduate and integrated courses in the top 50 National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) colleges, including IITs.

Details of the Scholarship

The programme was launched to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Bharti Airtel Foundation. It will start by supporting 250 students a year, eventually helping up to 4,000 students. The scholarship will have an annual budget of ₹100 crore and will support students on an ongoing basis.

Focus on Underprivileged Students and Girls

Rakesh Bharti Mittal, vice chairman of Bharti Enterprises and co-chairman of Bharti Airtel Foundation, said that the programme aims to help underprivileged students who need financial assistance, with a special focus

on female students. The main goal is to remove financial barriers for deserving students from diverse backgrounds. The scholarship will be available for students whose family income is less than ₹850,000 per year and who are eligible for admissions starting in August 2024.

Application Process

For the 2024 batch, 250 students from the technology sector will be selected. Applications will be reviewed by Buddy4Study to ensure they meet the criteria. The funding for this new programme will come from the corporate social responsibility (CSR) contributions that the group has committed to as per compliance norms.

Impact of the Scholarship

Mittal highlighted the broader impact of the scholarship, stating that supporting students not only benefits them but also positively affects their families. The scholarships will cover courses in fields like electronics and communication, telecom, IT, computer sciences, data sciences, and emerging technologies such as AI, IoT, AR/VR, machine learning, and robotics.

Support for Bharti Scholars

Recipients, known as Bharti Scholars, will receive 100% of their college fees, a laptop, and coverage for hostel and mess fees if needed. Scholars will be encouraged to support at least one student after they graduate and start working.

Bharti Airtel Foundation’s Ongoing Efforts

The foundation has been involved in various educational initiatives, starting with the Satya Bharti Schools for underprivileged children in 2006. There are now 164 schools in four states, educating 36,000 children, half of whom are girls. The foundation’s quality support programme extends these best practices to 880 government schools, benefiting 370,000 students across 12 states. It also supports higher education programmes.

Alumni and Industry-Academia Partnership

Mittal noted that around 100 alumni from the foundation’s programmes have joined Bharti Airtel in various roles, with another 100 under review. Some graduates have returned to the schools as volunteers and teachers. As the chairman of the Indian School of Business’ advisory board at Mohali, Mittal emphasized the need for a stronger industry-academia partnership to ensure that course curriculums are relevant to current and future industry needs.

Future of Jobs and Collaboration

Mittal stressed the importance of preparing for future jobs in fields like AI, machine learning, virtual reality, IoT, and robotics. This requires the right faculty, curriculum, and teaching methods, along with a strong partnership between industry and academia. He also called for increased private investment in research and innovation, and suggested joint faculty appointments where the private sector could fund salaries for high-quality faculty, benefiting research efforts.