British Council and the State of Telangana announced a residential short-term certificate course in the UK for 15 meritorious students from the state, under the Scholarships for Outstanding Undergraduate Talent (SCOUT) programme by GREAT for Government of Telangana. The initiative has been designed to provide exposure and skills to talented young students who have limited means to access or experience international education.

Navin Mittal, IAS Commissioner of Collegiate, Technical & Intermediate Education; Rahul Bojja, IAS Secretary, SCD, Hyderabad; Donna Gall, Senior International Officer at University of Glasgow and Janaka Pushpanathan, Director South India, British Council addressed the gathering at an event to launch the programme.  

As a part of this initiative, 15 undergraduate level students along with two faculty members from Telangana will be hosted by the University of Glasgow in March and April 2023 for a two-week short-term certified course on ‘How to be More Rational: Critical Thinking, Logic and Reasoning’. The short course will help in developing academic and research skills of the students and will allow them to gain inter-disciplinary knowledge through new pedagogical methods. The activity will also enable students to impact their own local community, institutions and future workplaces through their learning.  

As part of the arrangement, the opportunity was extended to students pursuing their graduation from higher education institutions in Telangana and were selected based on their merit. The programme will be funded by the GREAT campaign by the British Council and will cover the course fees, accommodation and other expenses for the students while in UK. The Government is funding the travel and visa costs for all students and faculty.  

In a reciprocal arrangement, the Telangana government will reserve 5 masters scholarships for study in UK universities as part of their Chief Minister's Overseas Scholarship Scheme in the state.