By IANS
Kolkata : A girl from Kolkata has won a top Australian scholarship for pursuing a four-year undergraduate course in aerospace engineering, beating students from 12 other countries.
Karthika Mohon, 18, of Dolna Day School is the recipient of the prestigious University of New South Wales (UNSW) Global High Achiever award from India for 2006.
"About 1,887 reputed schools participated in the scholarship last year of which almost 30 percent were from Kolkata. I am very happy that Karthika has topped amongst all the participants from 13 countries," UNSW Global's Educational Assessment Australia (EAA) director Peter Knapp told reporters at the award ceremony here Tuesday night.
He said over 600,000 students participated in the International Assessment for Indian Schools in 2006.
The assessment programme is a partnership between UNSW Global's EAA, a non-profit business unit, and Macmillan India. The assessment was first conducted in 2004 in India and it was launched last year in 13 countries.
"I am very excited to receive this award. I didn't even think that I would get this opportunity to study at University of New South Wales in Australia. I really feel good to receive it," an elated Karthika said.
UNSW, a foundation member of 'Group of Eight' – a consortium of Australia 's most prestigious research universities, is committed to a strategic partnership in India and has a long history of engagement with Asia.
The university has already signed over 10 memoranda of understanding (MoU) altogether with many reputed institutions in India, including Jawaharlal Nehru University, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Mumbai and Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani.
"This concept-based assessment is conducted through tests followed by an interview. We don't follow any particular academic standard. Rather we judge the scholarship recipient according to his/her knowledge on English, mathematics, science and computer skills," Macmillan India's associate vice-president and eastern India head Debasish Biswas told IANS.