An Indian human rights student has won the prestigious Gates scholarship and will take up her place at the Cambridge University in the autumn.
Aditi Malik from New Delhi is among 80 graduate students from 26 countries who have been selected for the Gates Cambridge Scholarships from more than 7,000 applicants. The scholarship programme celebrates its 10th anniversary this year.
The university said the programme, set up in 2000 and funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, enabled postgraduates with a strong interest in social leadership and responsibility to study at Cambridge.
“This year's scholars combine a strong academic record with highly developed social leadership skills,” it said.
Ultimate aim
Ms. Malik said: “My ultimate aim is to receive a Ph.D and become a university professor in India, where I believe the academic community on human rights discourse needs to be strengthened.”
She did her undergraduate degree in Government and Economics at Franklin and Marshall College in Pennsylvania, U.S., and was given the Henry S. Williamson Award, the college's most prestigious award for academic and extra-curricular achievement given to a member of the graduating class. As an undergraduate, she conducted research on the death penalty in India and worked with asylum seekers in America.
At Cambridge, she will study for an M.Phil in International Relations focusing on the theoretical and practical tensions between state sovereignty and human rights.
Gordon Johnson, Provost (CEO) of the Gates Cambridge Trust, said: “We are delighted to have selected 80 new Gates Scholars for entry in October 2010. It's very thrilling that within 10 years we have awarded nearly 1,000 scholarships to students from 92 countries to follow a graduate course in Cambridge.”
