The Department of Social Justice and Empowerment, Government of India, has invited applications for the Central Sector Scheme of National Overseas Scholarship.

The Central Sector Scheme of National Overseas Scholarship aims to facilitate the low-income students belonging to the Scheduled Castes, Denotified Nomadic and Semi-Nomadic Tribes, Landless Agricultural Labourers and Traditional Artisans category to obtain higher education by studying abroad, thereby improving their economic and social status.

The scheme provides financial assistance to the selected candidates for pursuing master's level courses and Ph.D. courses abroad in institutions/universities accredited by the government/authorised body of that country in any field of study.

In each selection year, 125 fresh awards, subject to availability of funds, will be given under the scheme. However, there will be a cap of 10% of the total slots for each state while allotting the slots. In case the slots in the 1st round of selection remain unfilled after applying the 10% cap, these slots will be filled in the 2nd round.

The category-wise distribution of slots for various groups will be as follows: (i) Scheduled Castes – 115; (ii) Denotified, Nomadic and Semi-Nomadic Tribes – 06; (iii) Landless Agricultural Labourers and Traditional Artisans – 04 (Total slots 125). 30% of the awards for each year shall be earmarked for women candidates. However, in case adequate women candidates are not available as per the stipulations of the scheme, then the unutilised slots will be utilised by selecting suitable male candidates.

Those having an unconditional offer of admission to top 500 ranked foreign institutes/universities as per the latest available QS World University Rankings for the year 2025 only will be selected for the grant of scholarship during the first round of selection.

Minimum Qualification: In the case of Ph.D. courses, the qualifying exam would be a master’s degree, and for master’s degree courses, the qualifying examination would be a bachelor's degree. To be eligible for a scholarship, an applicant should have secured at least 60% marks or an equivalent grade in the qualifying examination. In case a student has completed a Bachelor of Engineering after completing a Diploma (Lateral Entry to 2nd year), the percentage of marks obtained in the bachelor's degree will be taken into account.

Age should not be more than 35 years on the first day of April for the selection year.

Income Ceiling: Gross annual family income from all sources shall not exceed Rs. 8.00 lakh in the preceding financial year. The income certificate should be issued by a revenue officer not below the rank of tehsildar.

Selection: Only candidates who have submitted their Aadhar card and obtained an unconditional offer of admission from one of the foreign institutions/universities which are in the list of top 500 QS world-ranked institutions/universities from the academic session 2025-26 and onwards shall be considered for the award of a scholarship for studying in that institution/university, subject to fulfilment of other eligibility conditions of the scheme. However, in case the students are unable to submit their Aadhar Card on the portal at the time of application, they will be asked to mandatorily submit their Aadhar ID/Aadhar EID before the issue of the final award letter/confirmation letter, failing which the provisional award letter issued to them would be revoked.

Duration: Financial assistance will be provided up to the sanctioned duration of the course/research or the following period, whichever is earlier: For a Ph.D., 4 years; for a master’s degree, 3 years.

Financial Assistance: (i) Annual Maintenance Allowance of 15400 US Dollars for USA & other countries except UK; 9900 Great Britain Pounds for UK (ii) Annual Contingency Allowance: 1500 US dollars and 1100 British pounds, respectively. Actuals of tuition fees, visa fees (in Indian rupees), and medical insurance premiums will be given. Other benefits are listed in the Scheme Guidelines that can be downloaded from https://nosmsje.gov.in/nosmsje/

Application: Applications can be registered at https://nosmsje.gov.in/nosmsje/ latest by 27.4.2025. Detailed guidelines are given at the website.

Thereafter the portal will be open from 29.4.2025 to 2.5.2025 for making corrections, if any, in the application.