Cargill announces scholarship for IIT Madras BS degree students

Cargill will support over 100 students from low-income families to pursue Bachelor’s degrees in Data Science & Applications from IIT Madras.

Chennai:Cargill, a US Global Food and Agriculture Corporation, in partnership with the prestigious Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT Madras) has announced scholarship for students, who wish to pursue BS in Data Science Applications at IIT Madras. The students would be selected based on the eligibility criteria for the merit-cum-means scholarship. In all, 7,500 new students enter the programme every year, of which between 25% and 30% of students fall in the category of annual family income of less than Rs 5 lakhs. The Cargill scholarship will enable over 100 students from a low-income background to fulfil their dream of pursuing higher education at IIT Madras.

IIT Madras launched the BS in Data Science and Applications in June 2020. The programme has completed six academic terms and is stepping into its third year. The programme was recently awarded the silver medal by QS-Wharton Reimagine Education Awards for the best online programme. More than 22,000 learners have qualified for the programme so far and about 17,000 are studying. While 195 students are at the degree level, more than 4,500 are at the diploma level.

Thanking Cargill for their support, Prof Mahesh Panchagnula, Dean (Alumni and Corporate Relations), IIT Madras, said, “One out of four students undergoing the BS course hails from an underprivileged background. The Cargill scholarship will provide such deserving and meritorious students across the country, an opportunity to pursue their dream education from a prestigious institution like IIT Madras. Many of these students hail from families of first-generation college graduates, daily-wage earners and farmers and are already availing of bank loans or various government scholarship schemes. This scholarship will play a significant role in easing the financial burden on the student’s family.”

The IIT Madras BS degree in Data Science and Applications is a unique programme designed to offer students multiple entry and exit options where the learner can enter and exit with a certificate, diploma or degree. There are four levels in the IIT Madras degree programme and to get the BS Degree in Data Science and Applications from IIT Madras, a student has to complete all four levels.

Speaking about this partnership, Sumit Gupta, Country Head of Cargill Business Services in India, and Technology Leader at Cargill said, “We are proud to collaborate with IIT Madras to provide financial aid to bright students from low-income families to pursue undergraduate courses in Programming and Data Sciences. At Cargill, we care about creating equal opportunities and we focus on investing in innovation and future talent. We hope this support to STEM learning will be instrumental in advancing skills and knowledge and creating a skilled workforce. This is an important programme for Cargill to promote diversity, equity and inclusion among communities shortly.”

This programme provides flexibility for learners and empowers the students to choose what they want to accomplish through this programme. Unlike the highly competitive Joint Entrance Examinations (JEE), in which very few candidates qualify, this programme is more open and has an inclusive qualifier process that provides learners across the country access to IIT quality education. This is a great programme for students from low-income families, who possibly might have discontinued or taken breaks due to economic reasons.