AAPI-SGU unveil $ 0.5 million annual scholarship to Indian students
The St George’s University in Grenada will grant scholarship to the tune of $ 0.5 million every year to students of Indian-origin to study medicine at the university’s medical school. To be administered jointly with the American Association of Physicians of Indian Origin (AAPI) the AAPI-SGU scholarship will be given to meritorious students who could not afford medical education leading to MD degree.
University Chancellor Dr. Charles R.Modica and Provost Allen H. Pensick along with Dr. Sanku Rao, AAPI president and Dr. Sharad Lakhanpal, former AAPI president formally launched the AAPI-SGU scholarship program recently at St George’s University campus in picturesque Grenada Islands in the Caribbean. The scholarship is named in honor of late Dr CSP Rao, professor of Botany, Benaras Hindu University. Dr Rao, an eminent scientist and a teacher is father of SGU’s Dean of Students Dr. Vishnu Rao. The AAPI-SGU CSP Rao scholarship honors the late scientist who believed that excellence in education was a birth right regardless of financial limitations.
The SGU-AAPI scholarship consists of full and partial financial aid to qualifying students who are accepted by SGU’s committee of admissions from spring of 2009. The scholarship will be given for all four years of study on the basis of academic excellence and financial need, said Dr. Modica. "The scholarship applicants will be nominated and approved by a joint committee of AAPI and SGU. The quantum of scholarship varies and depends on the need.We encourage students from India to apply for the scholarship. The financial aid will be given to students of Indian-origin from any part of the world and to those who are willing to study medicine in Grenada. The scholarship amount will be split between the two batches of students who join in spring and fall semesters. The establishment of scholarship program coincides with the 30th anniversary of SGU," he said. Dr. Sanku Rao said the scholarship would be a boon to students who could not afford medical education. "AAPI is looking forward to working closely with SGU. We will open a Medical Students and Research Fellows (MSRF) branch at the campus to enable medical students to become student members of AAPI free of cost. They could take part in all the professional development activities of AAPI."
Dr. Sharad Lakhanpal, a former AAPI president and chair of AAPI-SGU scholarship committee, said the scholarship idea originated during a meeting he had with Dr.Modica and Dr. Rao two years ago to commemorate the silver jubilee of AAPI. Dr. Vishnu Rao said his father would curtail his own expenses and that of his family to provide books for students in need in the holy city of Benaras.
Over 3000 students from 138 countries are now studying MD program under which students spend first two years studying basic medical sciences at Grenada campus and move on to the US or UK medical universities to complete clinical study and the four year medical degree requirements.
Dr. Vishnu Rao said the students enrolled in St. George’s University School of Medicine have put Grenada in first place for the highest first time pass rate on Step 1 and Step 2 of USMLE examinations among all the 56 medical schools in the Caribbean over the past 15 years according to a study just released in the journal Academic Medicine.
The study ranked Grenada (SGU) number one in the Step 1 (testing basic sciences knowledge) with an 84.4 percent pass rate for first time takers, well above the closest country with private medical schools. If one deducts Grenada from the study, the average pass rate for all other countries during this 15-year period was 49.9 percent, he added.
Dr.Modica added: "the official study, the first of its kind in over 15 years, is an unbiased and accurate representation of the abilities of St. George's University's medical students. The numbers speak for themselves, as SGU medical students outperformed students from other countries in the region, exceeding the pass rate of some countries by more than 60 percent."
There are over 8,000 alumnus of St. George’s University currently practicing as physicians in the US, UK and other countries, according to Dr. Shivayogi R. Bhusnnurmath, dean, academic affairs of SGU. The University has added a school of veterinary medicine and school of arts and sciences,which includes an internationally focused MBA program, he said.
The MD Program at SGU has been accredited and approved by New York State Education Department, New Jersey Board of Medical Examiners and State of New Jersey for the purpose of conducting clinical training programs. It has been recognized by the Medical Board of California and approved by the Florida Commission on Independent Education of the Florida Department of Education. The US National Committee on Foreign Medical Education and Accreditation has approved the SGU standards to be equivalent to those utilized by the United States, he said.
