1st Recipient To Enjoy The Benefits Of BU
S. Aruljothi, a Ph. D. scholar in the Department of Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering of the Bharathiar University, will leave shortly for pursuing research in Singapore. Her travel will be sponsored by the university. She is the first recipient to enjoy the benefits of the corpus started by the university to help deserving university students travel abroad for study, research or attend seminars. Ms. Aruljothi prepared a project on a drug formulation to eradicate prostrate and breast cancer. Since research capabilities in this field were not very viable in India, she wanted to do part of her research abroad. The National University of Singapore was interested in her project as it was also involved in a similar research.The university accepted her as a research scholar for six months offering 1,000 Singapore dollars as monthly stipend. But, she was unable to foot the travel expenses. But, this did not deter her from pursuing her dream. “I approached the student-friendly Vice-Chancellor who offered to sponsor the travel expenses,” she says. According to Vice-Chancellor G. Thiruvasagam, there are many students who evince interest in going abroad for research, but are unable to do so because of financial constraints.
“Even though their research and stay get sponsored, there are many other formalities like documentation, preparation and travel, which require money. When Aruljothi approached me I decided to make this corpus. Accordingly Rs. 5 lakh will be allotted every year for the purpose of helping students’ travel abroad,” Mr. Thiruvasagam says. D. Vasanth and Saravana Kumar, M. Sc. students from Department of Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering, are the next two beneficiaries of the corpus. They will go to Germany to attend the 5th International Stem Cell School in Regenerative Medicine at Rostock University.
