 SSN Trust offers Rs 4 crore scholarships
The not-for-profit SSN Institutions established by the Sri Sivasubramaniya Nadar Educational and Charitable Trust founded by Shiv Nadar, chairman, HCL Technologies as his private initiative, has announced the SSN Trust Scholarships amounting to over Rs 4 crore that are available for students considering admission into any of its under-graduate and postgraduate programmes for 2006-07. The scholarships encourage meritorious and deserving students obtain the highest quality education, irrespective of economic barriers.
Kala Vijayakumar, president, SSN Institutions, said, "Mr Shiv Nadar believes that with good stewardship and encouragement, young talent can rise to the highest levels globally, in technocracy and leadership. The SSN Trust Scholarships are to encourage deserving students in need of economic support realise their potential by having access to an SSN education."
The SSN Trust Scholarships were introduced in 1999. The SSN Institutions have continued their tradition by disbursing almost 250 scholarships each year. Till date, SSN Trust Scholarships amounting to Rs 1,516.42 lakh have been disbursed to benefit 1,136 students. Last year (2005-06), 236 students benefited from scholarships under various categories, amounting to Rs 407.35 lakh. Of these, 169 students received scholarship on merit and merit-cum-means basis; 17 on sports scholarship; seven students received benefits under the HCL-TVSE Friendship Scholarship Scheme and two students were given special scholarships. Fortyone students received scholarships for the Masters of Science in Information Technology
(MSIT) course.
Vijayakumar said, "The scholarships have opened opportunities for brilliant but economically less privileged students, especially from the rural areas." She pointed out, "Saravanakumar.M, an academic achiever, is the son of a washerman with a meagre income of Rs 2,000 per month. Having obtained the merit-cum-means scholarship, he is now pursuing his B.E. final year in Computer Science and Engineering (CSE). He has already received placement offer from L & T Infotech through campus recruitment."
In addition to deserving students in need, the SSN Trust Scholarships are also provided to academically outstanding students to encourage excellence in education. Recently, on SSN's college day celebrations, Sairam Sundaresan, 1st year ECE (Electronics and Communication Engineering) department student was awarded the walk-in-walk-out scholarship worth almost Rs 2,78,400 as he secured the 5th rank in CBSE on an all-India basis.
Dr S Salivahanan, principal, SSN College of Engineering, scholarships are awarded to meritorious students based on the academic performance at the qualifying examinations for freshers, and in the case of senior students, the performance during the previous year. The scholarship offers a waiver of tuition fees, free hostel stay and boarding/grant towards living expenses and an allowance for books. All the under-graduate and postgraduates in Engineering, Masters of Business Administration (MBA) and Masters of Computer Applications (MCA) programmes at the institution are covered under the scholarship
programme.
The various scholarships and the criteria for selections are:
* Merit scholarships are awarded to meritorious students based on the academic performance at the qualifying exam for freshers, and in the case of senior students, the performance during the previous year. The scholarship offers a waiver of tuition fees, free hostel stay and boarding/grant towards living expenses and an allowance for books.
* Merit-cum-means scholarship waivers tuition fee, provides free hostel stay and boarding/grant towards living expenses and an allowance for books. Academic performance and demonstrated economic need are the key criteria for this scholarship.
* Waiver of tuition fee - The entire tuition fee for the first academic year is waived for first year' students entering an SSN Institution. Students who secure the highest marks in the +2 examinations are eligible. Similarly, senior students are offered scholarships on the basis of their previous year's academic performance.
* Walk-in-walk-out scholarships - absolutely free of cost education is granted to top 10 rank-holders of any state or Central board examination, including the Tamil Nadu Professional Course Entrance Exams (TNPCEE) at the +2 or equivalent level pursuing the B.E., B.Tech. degree at SSN Institutions.
* Sports scholarships are also granted to students with an outstanding record in sports. Typically, students who have represented the state at national-level competitions conducted by accredited sports boards are eligible.
SSN Institutions are undertaking major strategic initiatives to promote excellence focusing on research-based education and collaboration. SSN recently constituted a Research Advisory Council consisting of eminent internationally renowned researchers to provide guidance in this regard. Interestingly, the SSN Institutions already have a tie-up for collaborative research, faculty and student exchange with the renowned National Tsing Hua University (NTHU), Taiwan, credited with three Nobel laureates, Sahilvahanan said.
The institution has been certified with ISO 9001 :2000 and the UG programmes have been accredited by the National Board of Accreditation. SSN College of Engineering continues to remain in the top bracket among Anna University's engineering colleges to which it is currently affiliated. SSN Institutions is working towards becoming a deemed university.
Kala said the SSN Institutions endeavour to provide world class, research-based education at affordable cost to meritorious students.
SSN Institutions comprise SSN College of Engineering (SSNCE), SSN School of Management & Computer Applications
(SSNSoMCA).
The institutions are not for profit and managed by the SSN Trust (Sri Sivasubramaniya Nadar Educational and Charitable Trust). The trust was instituted in 1994 by Shiv Nadar, founder, HCL and (late) Justice Pratap Singh in honour of Shiv Nadar's father.
The SSN Institutions are located on the Old Mahabalipuram Road, known as 'Cyber Corridor' of Chennai. The campus is spread over 250 acres with a built-up area of over 1 million sq ft and is equipped with state-of-the-art infrastructure for learning including computers and Internet facilities networked by optic fibre links, modern workshops & labs, seminar halls, auditorium, libraries, gymnasium, a sports complex and separate hostels for men and women. The total students' strength is 2,600. The faculty student ratio is a favourable 1:12.
To accomplish its vision to build a world-class institution based on cutting edge research, SSN Institutions have set up the Research Advisory Council with eminent personalities like Dr Raj Reddy (member, Microsoft Technical Advisory, Chennai) and Dr. N. Balakrishnan (chairman, Information Science Division, Supercomputer Education and Research Centre [SERC] and professor, Department of Aerospace Engineering, IISc, Bangalore), she added.
R Rangaraj
|
