Project Redfort
We fund an MSc Scholarship programme at The Energy Research
Institute (TERI) University in New Delhi. This programme commenced
in 2009 and supports four graduate students annually in disciplines
ranging from resource conservation to renewable energy.
Background: (TERI) University in Delhi has an excellent reputation within environmental academic circles. It is chaired by Dr Pachauri, head of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (winner of the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize), and has exchange programmes in place with Yale and Berlin Freie universities. We were put in touch with TERI by the CEO of SSR India, Mr Umesh Sahdev, who has already hired five graduates from TERI for his team. SCCF met all of these individuals and were immensely impressed with their quality and professionalism. TERI are approached each year for funded postgraduate diploma places by a small number of graduates from countries such as Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, East Africa and Nepal. To date they have been turned down as TERI only administers two scholarship grants (from HSBC and one of the Indian power companies) and they are both for Indian students only.
TERI University is pleased to be working with SCCF in its scholarship programme. With SCCF's help we hope to broaden our student intake to include countries in Africa and West Asia, where post-graduate teaching in disciplines such as energy conservation, sustainable development and Climate Change are not at such an advanced level as at TERI University.
Captain Rajiv Seth, Registrar, TERI University
What we have done: The MSc courses that we fund are for sustainable energy, energy efficiency and resources management. TERI is currently attracting 8-10 applicants per SCCF scholarship. We vet the applications and make selections (two foreign students, two local). We have now granted 8 MSc scholarships four to Indian students and four to students from Africa and other parts of the subcontinent.
Student Theses:
- Amsalu Woldie, Ethiopia, M.Sc (Specialization in Environmental & Resource Economics), TERI University – "Assessing Sustainability of Economic Growth of Brazil, China, India, and South Africa: A Comparative Study"
- Jonathan Onwukwe, Nigeria, M.Tech (Renewable Energy Engineering & Management), TERI University – "Modelling the Reliability of Wind Turbine Generators"
- Ishita Singh, India, M.Sc (Natural Resources Management), TERI University – "Tools for Corporate Sustainability – Managing carbon emissions and Sustainability Reporting"
The next step: We are in discussion with a number of other partner universities with the goal of funding similar scholarships and, in some cases, re-designing course modules to address specific local challenges.