Rt Hon Sajid Javid MP, Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills and Rob Lynes, Director, British Council India launched the Education UK Alumni Awards 2016 in New Delhi today.
The awards will honour the outstanding achievements made by business professionals, entrepreneurs and community leaders across the globe who can demonstrate how their UK education has contributed to their subsequent success. UK alumni from ten participating countries can apply themselves or get nominated for the awards by 31 October 2015. The winners will be announced in March 2016.
The awards are open for the UK alumni from India, China, Brazil, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Nigeria, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and the USA, who are currently residing in one of the ten countries participating in the awards, and have studied at a UK university in the last ten years.
Both the finalists and the winners will become a part of a global network of UK alumni, raising their international profile, expanding their networks, and enhancing their careers.
At the launch event today, Rt Hon Sajid Javid MP, Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills said, “I am delighted to announce the launch of the Education UK Alumni Awards 2016 in India. Indian students make an important academic and cultural contribution to UK institutions, and on returning to India, the UK alumni networks can support their developing careers. These awards honour the outstanding achievements made by business professionals, entrepreneurs and community leaders, and demonstrate how a UK education has impacted on their success.”
“The UK welcomes some of the brightest and best international students to our world-class institutions. We launched the first edition of the Education UK Alumni Awards last year and received tremendous response from our alumni network. They are doing great work in their respective fields and we want to recognise their effort and significant contribution through these awards. We invite eligible UK alumni from India to participate in the awards”, said Rob Lynes, Director, British Council India.
The first-ever Education UK Alumni Awards were launched by the British Council in September 2014 for UK alumni from India, mainland China and the USA. The winners of the first awards in India were announced at a gala award ceremony on 28 February 2015 in New Delhi, attended by leaders from government, industry and education, as well as other outstanding UK alumni. The guest of honour at this special evening was Professor Nick Petford, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Northampton.
The winners of the Education UK Alumni Awards 2015 in India are:
• Entrepreneurial Award - Amit Inamdar, who studied at the University of Liverpool, and founded PlusOne Design for Humanity
• Social Impact Award - Rajesh Babu Bhatchala, who studied at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and won the award for his initiative, Drishti Vision for Life, in Karnataka
• Professional Achievement Award - Siddharth Chowdhury, who studied at theUniversity of Stirling, for his literary success.
A UK education is one of the best investments aspiring students can make in their future. A recent QS global survey of 27,000 graduate employers showed that UK degrees are highly valued by employers worldwide. Graduates from Oxford and Cambridge were rated the most employable in the world, while London School of Economics, Imperial College London and the University of Manchester all made the top ten. Studies also show that UK-educated graduates achieve markedly higher average salaries in their home country.
UK education has produced a diverse range of inspirational alumni who have gone on to achieve global success in many disciplines, including Oscar-winning directors, Olympic gold-medallists, Nobel Prize-winners and world leaders. Some of these celebrated alumni of the UK include designer Jimmy Choo, actress Parineeti Chopra, former US President Bill Clinton, co-founder of LinkedIn Reid Hoffman, Olympic gold medallist Annette Salmeen, Nobel Prize for Literature winner Wole Soyinka, Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi and business magnate Zhang Xin.
For more information please contact:
Suchita Gokarn, Suchita.gokarn@in.britishcouncil.org
Head, Education Promotion, India