Education

Bhutan

Knowledge Creation and Sharing

• The integration of Bhutan’s DrukRen with India’s National Knowledge Network  is a key cooperation in the domain of e-Learning. This integration creates an information highway between the universities, research institutions, libraries, health-care and agricultural institutions of the two nations. The network is being actively used by 28 active DrukREN  members including the top universities, colleges and hospital in Bhutan and is benefitting more than 10,000 users. 
• The E-library project  complements Bhutan's efforts at digital transformation and e-learning. The project commenced its work in September, 2016 and was handed over to the Ministry of Education in June 2020. The project includes the development of an e-library portal, establishment of a data centre in Thimphu Tech Park, creation and management of e-content and the creation of e-libraries in 49 schools and 12 colleges in each district of Bhutan. The e-library project is presently benefiting 160,000 high-school students and 9800 college-going students.
• Many Bhutanese students benefit from scholarships provided by the GOI for studying in Indian educational institutions. In addition, many Bhutanese youth also enroll as self-financed students in Indian universities. During the State visit of Prime Minister of India to Bhutan in 2019, four MOUs on cooperation in STEM  Education were signed between the Royal University of Bhutan and the Indian Institutes of Technology at Delhi, Bombay, Kanpur and the National Institute of Technology, Silchar.

Capacity Building

• The current offers from India to Bhutan in terms of Scholarship Schemes include the Ambassador’s Scholarship, prestigious Nehru Wangchuck Scholarship , Five-Year Plan project-tied assistance based Undergraduate Scholarship, Nalanda University Scholarship, ICCR Undergraduate Engineering scholarships. ICCR, AYUSH, BIMSTEC and SAARC scholarships have also provided a strong foundation to the bilateral engagement in education. Bhutanese students have also been availing of seats at IIT-Kanpur  under India-Bhutan Friendship Scholarship, IIT Gandhinagar Global Fellowship  and the Rashtriya Raksha University Scholarships . Every year, approx. 1,000 Bhutanese students studying in Indian colleges and institutes benefit from the award of the Ambassador’s Scholarship, which was instituted in 2001.
• Under the capacity-building Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation (ITEC ) program, about 325 slots for the in-person training, along with unlimited e-ITEC slots, are allotted annually to Bhutan for upgrading administrative and technical skills of government officials and private sector employees in Bhutan. In 2022, Government of India also customized special ITEC progammes for training 100 Bhutanese young entrepreneurs at the prestigious Entrepreneurship Development Institute of India (EDII ), Ahmedabad and 30 entrepreneurs at the Indian Institute of Packaging.

Grants & Concessional Finance
GyalSung Project
India will be extending grant assistance of INR 2 billion to the Gyalsung Project  - a visionary initiative of His Majesty the King of Bhutan, which will enable the youth to equip themselves with critical skills and to contribute in nation-building efforts.