South Asian University, an initiative of the eight South Asian countries, will start PhD programmes in various subjects from the coming academic year.

The announcement was made after the final approval by the Governing Board, the highest administrative body of this international university, said the university in a press release.

Making the announcement Prof GK Chadha, SAU president, said the university was envisaged as a center of excellence with primary focus on research and post graduate programmes and hence the decision to start the PhD programmes was very much in line with the university’s vision. But for the space constraint that the university has been facing, the research programmes would have been introduced earlier, he said.

SAU was established by the governments of the eight SAARC nations in 2010. The research scholars would be inducted into the PhD programmes through an entrance test followed by a personal interview, the release said. All the candidates of the research programmes would be eligible to apply for the on-going SAARC Silver Jubilee Scholarship, instituted by the Indian Government especially for SAU students.

The maximum scholarship for research scholars carries full fee waiver, free stay in the hostel, a monthly allowance of INR 12,000 and a fixed start-up amount, it said.

source: The Kathmandu Post,13 Dec 2012