'What we do in ten years is just a drop in the bucket'

Q&A/ Joan Dassin | Ford Foundation

Ford Foundation's $300 million higher education fellowships, which groom social underdogs for education abroad, wants to partner with the private sector in India, says International Fellowship Programme executive director Joan Dassin.

How many fellowships will Indians get in the ten years of the programme?

There are 4,000 fellowships for India. There are 400 each year. We are having the programme in 22 countries and hence the numbers are really few.

But then, in a country of one billion people, even two million won't suffice. We have one lakh entries all over the world so far since we started in 2001.

In India about 1,500 have completed their education and are back. The goal is to highlight the fact that there is a real need and a very few opportunities among Dalits, minorities, tribals and handicapped, especially women among them.

How do you identify the right people who can take all the entrance tests required for higher education?

We have partnered with 20 NGOs and we have a team of four in the 10 states where we are targeting.

Besides, in Delhi we have an entire team which trains the selected persons to go through the required tests, including improving their English language skills. It works like a mini university by itself. We are not taking people with the best marks to Oxford.

But investing in something which has uncertain results. What we do is pioneering and there is no manual for preparing people from disadvantaged backgrounds for top institutes.

Most people in your target groups drop out while in primary schools. Besides, most of the people who may want to apply may have crossed 30 years.

That is one of the measures we took at the start. We removed the age bar.

So who is your oldest fellow so far?

Our oldest is a 71 year old Russian. In India 45 has been the oldest fellow we could get. In other fellowships like Commonwealth and Chevening, the cut off age is 35 years.

Commonwealth has taken a cue from us and removed the bar now. Our programme is a demonstration that learning is a lifelong proposition.

Who qualifies for the fellowships? Is it similar to the Ashoka fellowships which identifies and supports social entrepreneurs?

No, ours is purely for academic excellence. But we identify only those who are community leaders and have scholarly inclination. It is not for the disadvantaged. But for someone who has fought his disadvantage and come up and wants to create opportunities for others too. So, there is a small difference.

So you look at education as a tool for empowerment?

We could have easily looked at the marklists and chosen the best and brightest. But we want the fellowship to be a tool for social justice for the disadvantaged.

We want to take our resources to very talented people who have no access. And we don't struggle for them. They are those who have overcome a disadvantage. If we provide access to good instructors they do it themselves.

Have any corporate foundations or state governments expressed interest in partnering with you here?

What we do in ten years is just a drop in the bucket. No foundation can do it perpetually. We would be delighted if private companies came forward and funded it and make it run after 2010. We have come to India to seek partnerships for the fellowships from industry and governments.

We definitely want to scale up and have the model replicated. Tatas, who are on our selection panel has expressed interest. And University Grants Commission has expressed interest in our model as they have scholarships for higher education.

Why are all the Indian fellows going abroad? Can't they learn in institutes here, like JNU?

We couldn't get institutes here to agree on a partnership.