Image showing group students raise fists hold diploma mortarboard gown graduate college building outdoors. (For representation)
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Bengaluru: Much to the dismay of students and faculty members of government-run universities in the state, no varsity in the United Kingdom has offered to participate in the Scholars for Outstanding Undergraduate Talent (SCOUT) programme this year.
A collaborative initiative between the Karnataka Department of Higher Education and the British Council, SCOUT was launched in November 2024 with the aim of offering select undergraduate students and teachers a glimpse of university life in the United Kingdom. In all, 30 undergraduate students selected from multiple state-run varsities, along with six faculty members, are given the opportunity to experience first-hand the life of their peers at a United Kingdom varsity.
Minister for Higher Education Dr M C Sudhakar confirmed that no university in the UK had expressed willingness to host students from the state.
“The SCOUT programme was one of the subjects we discussed with the United Kingdom delegation a few days ago. We pressed the delegation to sustain the initiative, while assuring them of Karnataka government’s support for the same,” said Sudhakar.
In 2024, five students selected from each of six government universities – Bangalore University, Bengaluru City University, Tumkur University, Raichur University, Rani Channamma University and Kalaburagi University – were hosted at the East London University.
Each of the state-run universities spend Rs 1 lakh per student, while the British Council foots the rest of the bill. The primary objective of the programme is to offer students critical insights into fields such as Artificial Intelligence, Data Science, etc.