Southern India Scholar is first recipient of new award

Wednesday 11 August 2010

Prashanth Venkataramana has become the first recipient of a new scholarship available to Cambridge applicants from Southern India.  He will arrive this October to pursue an MPhil in Engineering for Sustainable Development at Hughes Hall.

At a ceremony in Chennai last month (pictured) his award was formally made by the UK Minister of State for Universities and Science, the Rt Hon David Willetts, who was visiting India in the company of the Prime Minister.

The scholarship, called the Pemanda Monappa Scholarship after a distinguished and highly-decorated officer of the Indian Police establishment, has been generously instituted in perpetuity by his son, Mr P.M. Belliappa.

The award, which is co-funded by the Cambridge Commonwealth Trust, is available to outstanding applicants from recognised universities in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala or Tamil Nadu, who wish to pursue a Masters in Biological Sciences (excluding medicine and veterinary medicine), Computer Science, Economics, English Literature, Law, Physical Sciences, and Technology.

Prashanth is from Chennai, and holds a first degree in Mechanical Engineering from Sri Venkateswara College of Engineering.  He has been working as Design Engineer at Saint-Gobain Glass India.

From left to right: Mike Nithavrianakis (British Deputy High Commissioner, Southern India), P.M. Belliappa (scholarship donor), Rt Hon David Willetts (UK Minister of State for Universities and Science), Prashanth Venkataramana (scholarship recipient), Mr and Mrs Venkataramana