Last Updated: December 01, 2022
At Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, we firmly believe that education is the key to empowerment, and every aspiring mind should have equal access to opportunities. Recognizing the significance of fostering an inclusive educational environment, we have diligently established Women Access Schemes tailored for school students aspiring to pursue higher studies at our institution. These schemes, comprising scholarships, mentoring programs, and various other initiatives, are not just initiatives; they are pathways to transformation, breaking down barriers and enabling young women to reach their fullest potential.
1.1.1 Indo-U.S. Fellowship for Women in STEMM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics and Medicine)
Amrita Center for International Programs launched in Sept 2021 the “Indo-U.S. Fellowship for Women in STEMM” (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics and Medicine) program with an aim to provide opportunities to Indian Women Scientists, Engineers & Technologists to undertake international collaborative research in premier institutions in U.S.A, to enhance their research capacities and capabilities.
For further details on the Indo-U.S. Fellowship for Women in STEMM Scholarship: Click here
1.1.2 Rekha Eipe Memorial Scholarship
On March 25, 2022, the first Rekha Eipe Memorial Scholarship Award for Women’s Empowerment and Education was given to scholarship recipient Nasliya N., Master of Social Work student. Shri Prabhakaran Ramachandran, Chairman and Founding Partner, Pravda Law Associates for Litigation in India and Lincoln Global Law Chambers (LGLC) was the special invited guest.
The Rekha Eipe Memorial Scholarship is an endowment fund providing financial aid to talented female students in the Master of Social Work Program at Amrita.
For further details on the Rekha Eipe Memorial Scholarship: Click here
Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham offers Scholarship for first year women students. Scholarship is based on Amrita Entrance Examination-Engineering Rank (AEEE). Undergraduate and post graduate students can benefit from the offer.
Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham conducts entrance examinations across the country annually for admission to programmes offered at Amrita Schools of Engineering – Amritapuri, Bengaluru & Coimbatore and Amrita School of Arts & Sciences.
Tuition fee waiver ranging from 100% to 50 % is awarded to the women students, based on their rank at the time of admission counselling.
A total of 300+ candidates are eligible for scholarship at the time of admission and continuation of scholarship in subsequent years would require meeting the minimum required CGPA during subsequent years of study.
Margadarshi is a unique program which is offered by Amrita School of Engineering across schools pan India.
In a conscious effort to promote gender equity within the institution and achieve a near equal male to female ratio in all programs offered by the institution, the speakers focus on encouraging women students to apply for STEM courses in the girls schools. They discuss in detail about the opportunities for women in core engineering courses such as Mechanical engineering, civil engineering, etc where traditionally there have been a significantly lesser number of female students.
Speakers then address the reservations and fears that parents have with regards to letting their daughters pursue on-campus degree programs. The safety and security features available on the campus, and various policies and redressal cells, based on UGC regulations, that are in place to ensure their safety are discussed. Special mentoring schemes in place to promote equal participation of women students are discussed in detail as well. They also highlight how independent hostel living experience leads to holistic development which then helps them to face challenging situations in the workplace in the future.
An online conclave has been organized for the 21-22 XI and XII standard students. The topics covered under Margadarshi in the 2022 conclave were:
Video on Magadarshi posted in 2022:
For further information on Margadarshi:
Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, is organizing a series of Virtual Career Counselling Workshops on ‘Career Counselling, Entrance Coaching & Foundation Program’ exclusively for school students of class XI and XII current batch. Some of them are specifically designed for women school students to encourage them to embrace an engineering career path in areas like chemical engineering or computer science engineering.
Encouraging women in chemical engineering (video posted end July 2021):
Coding and Computer sciences (video posted in October 2021):
Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham continuously update its policies and innovate on new programs to promote gender equality and women empowerment. This online communication shows parents, as well as future students, that Amrita invest efforts to keep on implementing gender equality in all its campuses. Following are some examples communicated online among others:
Amrita holds India’s only UNESCO chair in Women’s Empowerment and Gender Equality.
The Centre for Women’s Empowerment and Gender Equality at Amrita plays an important role in advising the university on gender-related issues with emphasis on educational attainment, health, preparation for economic opportunity, and safety. Excellence in all its diversity has become the organizing principle of Amrita’s policy. Leadership by our Chancellor Sri Mata Amritanandamayi Devi has channeled Amrita with formal equality work since its setup. A 13-member expert team consisting of leading researchers globally also help in shaping the policy around Women’s Empowerment and gender equity.
The Global Summit for Gender-Related Chairs and Networks (W36) convened on Aug 19-20 2022 and brought together UNESCO Chairs from around the world. Hosted by Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, the summit invited 36 gender-related UNESCO Chairs and networks to share visions, bring together voices, and spark momentum for addressing challenges and co-building a bright future for all women and girls– especially within the fallout of the pandemic. Theme: COVID-19 Impacts and Transforming the Role of Women in the Post-Pandemic Era.
For further information on the summit:
As a University program, the Amrita Gender Harmony workshop is meant to help promote gender equality across the institution and to provide students, teachers, and administrators the tools and language they need to eliminate gender-based discrimination and promote equality both inside and outside the classroom. The workshop strives to help students and teachers recognize, acknowledge and then shift fundamental cultural perspectives, pre-dispositions and biases towards gender and gender roles. The proposed course is a semester-long program with multiple sessions that are participatory and focus on learning, personal reflection, group discussion and real world action as key approaches for effective understanding and sensitization.
The implementation started July 2022 with a 2-phase training for teachers on the topics of the workshop, giving them a detailed look into the content and training them how to deliver it to students.
In October 2023, the first batch of 29 students (mostly first-year undergraduate students in the Dental School of Kochi campus) participated in the first session of the workshop.
Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham offers different mentoring schemes to uplift women students:
In Amrita we are proud to announce that 83% of the women students are mentored.
These tools show parents, as well as future students that Amrita invest efforts to keep on implementing gender equality in all its campuses.
For further information on the existing mentoring schemes:
Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham has constituted multiple anti-discrimination committees in compliance to the UGC (Promotion of Equity in Higher Education Institutions) Regulations, 2012 and UGC (Grievance Redressal), Regulations, 2012. This contributes indirectly to assure women potential students that their rights will be protected.
These committees will look into the matters (if any) of depriving student/faculty/staff on the basis of caste, creed, religion, language, ethnicity, gender, disability of access etc. to education of any type or at any level.
For further info:
3.5.1 Health
For further info: (video posted in 2022)
3.5.2 Safety and Security
3.5.3 Education
Online communication on events organized by Amrita for the International Women’s Day (8th March 2022) shows its willingness to promote gender equality in its campuses. By showcasing students initiatives, it nurtures aspirations, encouraging more young women to access higher education at Amrita.
Examples of communication online of this event:
On the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, November 25th, 2022, Social Work students, researchers from AMMACHI Labs and staff from other Amrita departments stood to UNITE to end violence against women and girls by proudly wearing orange ribbons. The Orange ribbons “dye the world in orange,” showing the aversion to the violence against girls and women and symbolize a better future, without violence, for all women and girls. Ribbons were made by Social Work students from the Amrita School of Social and Behavioural Sciences, Amritapuri.
For further information on the event:
Around India, the SANKALP team organized several women-led activities in 46 centers throughout India: Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Odisha, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana. Women participated in rallies, poster making sessions, enacted role plays about domestic violence and shared their own stories and struggles. Overall, it was an energizing and action-packed day across the Amrita family.