Guidelines for Awarding Tele-Education Scholarships to Afghan Students

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e-VidyaBharati (e-VB) Network Project (Online Higher Education). Government of India, Ministry of External Affairs, Indian Council for Cultural Relations.

1. Introduction

Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India launched the “e-VidyaBharati (e-VB) Network project” in October 2019 to assist students from other countries in pursuing online Undergraduate/ Postgraduate programmes from Indian Universities/Institutes and promote India as a center for higher studies.

Under the e-VB, financial assistance for pursuing online UG/PGprogrammes from Indian Universities/Institutes as listed in Appendix ‘A’, is provided towards tuition fee, admission fee, examination fee and other miscellaneous charges. Scholarships under the e-VB are paid directly to the empanelled Universities where the students get enrolled. The enrolled students pursue their programmes/courses in ONLINE mode at their own comfort, anytime, anywhere usinglaptop/tablet/mobile with internet connection.

2. Number of Scholarships

Indian Council for cultural Relations, through e-VB project aims to offer 1000 scholarships to Afghan students to pursue various ONLINE Undergraduate/Postgraduate programmes from the participating Indian Universities approved by University Grants Commission (UGC).

Enrollment under the project to various Indian Universities is carried out twice a year in 2 academic sessions- January and July respectively.

3. Eligibility Criteria

3.1. Nationality

Scholarships under e-VB are open to students who are nationals of Afghanistan.

3.2. Country of Residence

The applicant could be residing in any part of the world, but should have a valid National ID/ Passport of Afghanistan.

3.3. Age

As on July 01 of the particular academic year the age of the applicant should be as under: UG/PG – 18 to 35 years

3.4. Academic Qualification

Candidates must possess minimum academic qualification for pursuing a particular programme/course, as defined by respective Indian Universities/ Institutes. Applicants must check the eligibility criteria/pre-requisites for admission to a particular programme/course on respective university portal and then apply.

3.5. Empanelled Indian Universities/Institutes and Programmes/ Courses

Only Indian Universities/Institutes that are approved by University Grants Commission (UGC) to offer ONLINE UG (3 years) /PG (2 years) programmes or Institutes of Eminence, are empanelled under the project.

This is as per guidelines of UGC for recognition of Indian Universities/ Institutes to offer online programmes/courses dated 4 July 2018 (refer https://www.ugc.ac.in/pdfnews/7553683_Online-Courses-or-ProgrammesRegulations_2018.pdf), and its amendment dated 4 September 2020 (refer https://www.ugc.ac.in/pdfnews/221580.pdf).

The list of empanelled Universities/Institutes under e-VB, where applicant can apply is available on iLearn portal and is also placed at Appendix ‘A’.

Under e-VB, ONLINE UG/PG programmes in the fields of Business Administration, Commerce, Computer Science, Arts etc., are being offered. These programmes/courses are primarily focused on improving students’ educational attainments, and better career prospects.

Applicants must follow the programme/course catalogue provided in Tele-Education portal (www.iLearn.gov.in). Admission of candidates is strictly restricted to the Indian Universities/Institutes and programmes/courses as mentioned in Appendix ‘A’.

4. How to Apply

Applicants/Candidates, who fulfil the eligibility criteria can apply for scholarship under e-VB by registering on the iLearn portal (www.ilearn.gov.in) and subsequently applying for undergraduate/ postgraduate programmes offered by Indian Universities/Institutes (as above) on the respective University portals.

4.1. Registration on iLearn portal

Students seeking admission under e-VB are initially required to register on the iLearn portal of the e-VB project (www.ilearn.gov.in) by filling the following details:-

• Name: Enter the name exactly as given in National ID issued by Government of Afghanistan.
• Mobile Number: Enter active mobile number to connect in case of any need in future.
• Email: Enter active Email for regular communication in future.
• Nationality: Should be national of Afghanistan.

NOTE: It may be noted that all the above fields shall be pre-filled while applying later on the respective University portal.

4.2. Submission of application form on respective University portal

On successful registration on iLearn portal (www.ilearn.gov.in), applicants need to select the University and Programme, in which he/she is interested, on the iLearn portal.

Thereafter, the applicant gets re-directed to respective University portals which are integrated with iLearn portal. Applicants needs to apply on the portal of the respective Indian University/Institute by filling the application form and uploading the mandatory documents.

The criteria/pre-requisites for admission in these Universities/Institutes may be referred to on respective University website by the applicant.

Indian Universities/educational Institutes are autonomous and independent bodies and have their own eligibility criteria. It is therefore for students to satisfy themselves about the programme/ course chosen and about the Universities.

The following documents/transcripts/certificates have to be uploaded with the application form:

• i) Valid academic records/ transcripts/ certificates, as required by respective Indian University/Institute.
• ii) Valid National ID/Passport with photograph and Date of Birth. The NationalID must have validity till the last date of enrolment.
• iii) Incomplete/ineligible applications in any respect shall be liable to be rejected.
• iv) Applicant should ensure that the format of scanned documents should be in .jpeg/.jpg/.png format and size should be between 50 KB to 250 KB. Applicant should upload photograph, academic records and national ID at appropriate place in the application form in the suggested format and size.

Note: Indian Mission in Kabul may ask the applicant to show the above documents in original.

ICCR, Ministry of External Affairs, New Delhi shall not be responsible for any delay in submitting the Application Form. Mere applying does not guarantee any scholarship/admission in any institution.

4.3. How to complete the application form

While the application form needs to be filled after carefully reading all the instructions on the portal of the respective Indian University/Institute, the following are the general instructions for filling the application form:

• i. The application form must be filled in ENGLISH language.
• ii. ONLY one application per candidate is allowed.
• iii. Applicants must ensure that they fulfil all eligibility requirements for application, i.e. education, age, nationality etc. Grant of scholarship benefit is subject to verification of facts from submitted certificates/documents.
• iv. Size of the Passport size Photograph should be 50 to 250 Kb.
• v. Name: The name shall be prefilled in the application as provided at the time of registration on iLearn portal.
• vi. Gender: Please select/write as appropriate.
• vii. Date of Birth: Enter the date, month and year of your birth as recorded in the National ID.
• viii. Nationality: Select/write your appropriate citizenship option
• ix. Country of Residence: Select/write your appropriate country of residence
• x. Name of Parent/Guardian: Enter the complete name of your parent(s)
• xi. Complete Postal Address: Applicant should enter complete postal address, mobile number, email address to which all future correspondence is to be sent by Indian Universities/Institutes, Indian Mission in Kabul, Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), Government of India & ICCR.
• xii. Passport/National ID details: Provide details of Passport or any other National ID and enclose a copy of the same.
• xiii. Mobile Number: The mobile number shall be prefilled in the application as provided at the time of registration on iLearn portal.
• xiv. Email: The Email shall be prefilled in the application as provided at the time of registration on iLearn portal.

• xv. Declaration by applicant: Applicants must provide declaration to Indian Universities/Institutes that they are not enrolled in any other ongoing programme/ course under e-VB project. [Note: Students who have already obtained a degree under e-VB project (at the time of announcement of new academic session) and willing to avail scholarship under e-VB project for pursuing another degree, may also apply afresh through iLearn portal to process their application].
• xvi. In case of any clarification, the applicant may contact afghsection.iccr@nic.in.
• xvii. Applications shall be complete in every detail to avoid rejection of the same.
• xviii. In case of documents available in local language, applicants are requested to upload certified copies of translations of these documents in English.
• xix. In order to avoid rejection from Universities/Institutes, applicants are advised to make their subject choices carefully, based on the subjects they have studied at Higher Secondary.

5. Last date of submission

Last Date for submission of Completed Application Form online shall be published on the iLearn portal (www.ilearn.gov.in). Applicants are also advised to follow social media platforms links of e-VB project for latestupdates. Refer these links at Section ‘13’ of this document.

6. Medium of instruction and English Proficiency

Medium of instruction is English in all the empanelled Universities in India. Applicants should therefore have adequate knowledge of English to the extent that they are able to read and write in English and comprehend lessons in English language without any difficulty.

7. Shortlisting & Selection process

The applications received ONLINE will be screened by respective Indian Universities/Institutes for eligibility of admission of applicant in the applied programme/course and stream; The Indian Mission in Kabul for verifying the identity of the applicant; Implementing Agency and the Project Monitoring Unit for review of Deficiency, if any. Finally, MEA/ICCR approves the scholarships for the applicants.

After receiving the final approval for scholarships, respective Indian Universities/Institutes shall inform the student of his/her final selection and subsequently enroll for initiation of academic life cycle. The selected candidates shall give their consent about acceptance of scholarship to the Indian University/Institute.

8. General Instruction

All decisions of ICCR/MEA for awarding the scholarship to prospective applicant under e-VB project shall be final and binding.

In case, any information, certificate or declaration, as furnished by the applicant is found to be false or furnished willfully to hide material fact(s), the grant of scholarship to him/her will be withdrawn forthwith and no further correspondence will be entertained on this matter, besides initiating suitable legal action against the applicant. The decision of ICCR/MEA will be final in this regard.

9. Course Delivery

Upon selection, Indian Universities/Institutes shall provide credentials of Learning Management System (LMS) to selected students.

Students using those credentials log into the respective University portal and pursue their courses at their own convenience.

The online programmes/ courses under e-VB are offered by Universities/Institutes that are approved by University Grants Commission (UGC) to award degrees in online mode. The online programmes/ courses offered are based on the 4 quadrant approach as prescribed by UGC to Indian Universities viz.,

(i) e-Tutorial containing recorded videos/audios, simulations and virtuallabs, (ii) e-Content containing e-books and documents, (iii) Web Resources contains related links, content on internet and (iv) Self- Assessment containing assignments and solutions, discussion forum. The end- semester examinations are conducted using remotely proctored examination technologies i.e. Safe Exam Browser.

Universities conduct online remotely proctored examination using Safe Exam Browser.

The passed students are awarded Degree online and physical copies of degrees/certificates are also sent to Indian Mission in Kabul, and students need to collect from Indian Mission in Kabul.

10. Financial Assistance/Scholarship

10.1. The scholarship amount covers entire degree programme fee including tuition fee, e-content charges, examination fee, other charges like registration fee, re-examination and award of degree etc. The scholarship amount shall be disbursed directly to the respective Indian University/Institute where the students are enrolled.

10.2. In the First and Second Semester

The scholarship amount is paid to the Indian University/Institute semester-wise based on the invoices submitted by the Universities/Institutes. Scholarship amount for the first semester is released to the Indian Universities/Institutes upfront. Thereafter, scholarship amount for the second semester is released to the Indian Universities/Institutes at the start of the semester. However, this is subject to Universities/Institutes confirming that the student is active and has submitted at least a minimum number of assignments.

10.3. For Third and Subsequent Semesters

A definite performance criterion is being followed for continuing scholarship from third semester for the third and subsequent semesters of study which is based on the performance of students in previous semesters:

“Scholarships for odd and even semesters shall be approved only if the student passed all previous odd and even semesters respectively. If the student is unable to complete this condition, then his/ her scholarship shall be deferred until such time he/she satisfies the conditions for scholarship.”

10.4. Tenure of scholarship

It should be the endeavor of each student to complete the UG, PG, programmes within prescribed time period of 3 years, 2 years, respectively. However, any relaxation will be strictly as per UGC guidelines.

11. Disbursement of Scholarships

Admissible amount of scholarship in each Semester shall be released by Ministry to its implementation agency which shall remit amount directly to the concerned Indian University/Institute at the start of each semester.

ICCR has the right to bring in changes in the scholarship policy as well as financial terms of the scholarship and implement it as and when it is decided by MEA, and inturn to Universities/Institutes and students, to which every e-VB scholar has to abide.

12. ICCR e-VB alumni

Student should fill up the Alumni Form available on iLearn portal ICCR (www.ilearn.gov.in) as well as on India Alumni portal (www.indiaalumni.almaconnect.com) after completing the course and before award of final degree. This will help alumni of e-VB to be in touch for future e-VB activities and will also be helpful in future for Indian Missions/Posts abroad to remain engaged with the Alumni.

13. Important Links

Prospective Applicants should follow below link of Social MediaPlatforms:

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/ICCROfficial

Twitter https://www.twitter.com/ICCR_hq

Instagram https://www.instagram.com/iccr_delhi/

Youtube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUO39Cx_FoYl5RL0HNsmU2Q

iLearn afghsection.iccr@nic.in Support

14. Contact us

Connect us for any queries related to e-VB project at afghsection.iccr@nic.in

Disclaimer: This document supersedes provisions/ guidelines issued during the previous academic sessions and is applicable for all enrolled students and prospective applicants under e-VB project. In case of any regulatory change and change in guidelines in awarding the scholarship shall be issued/ intimated separately from time to time on iLearn portal and social media platforms.

Appendix A: Participating universities and programmes

The current list of participating universities and institutes and their programmes is published on the portal in text form. See All universities and the programme explorer.