Headline: Scholarship enables Goans to study in UK
By: Frederick Noronha (IANS)
Full Text:
An endowment made almost six decades ago by a little known Goan has enabled students from Goa to study in what would otherwise have been prohibitively expensive British universities.
Each year, around this time, Diego Frank de Souza's generosity is recalled when the British Council announces the De Souza Trust Goa Scholarship instituted in 1998.
Eleven students have so far benefited from the scholarship, which meets annual fees of up to 8,000 pounds (Rs 6,65,000).
"Our candidates have included a music therapist, an executive with the UN, an assistant editor with Tehelka (newspaper), an architect, a researcher, a design consultant and a lawyer," Manjula Rao, a Mumbai-based British Council official said.
Funds for providing scholarships come from the estate of De Souza, a Goan who lived in London. In his will of August 13, 1948, he left part of his estate to form a charitable trust for providing financial assistance to young Goans to study in Britain.
"The terms of the trust as originally set up were unworkable and the funds remained dormant for years. A few years ago, the British Council was instrumental in reviving the issue, amendments were worked and funds, which had accumulated considerably, were released to set up the scholarships," Rao said.
Unlike the rest of South Asia, Goa was a Portuguese colony, with parts of the state ruled by Lisbon for as long as 451 years. But British policies opened the floodgates to Goan migration to East Africa and even to Britain itself.
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I have also been trying to find out information about Diego Frank de Souza from the British Council offices in London & Mumbai but do not have any more details than Fred has provided.
Applicants have to be Goa residents or Goans by birth and hold Indian passports. Closing date of the next academic session is 31 May 2005. For full details of the scholarships see http://www.britishcouncil.org/india-connecting-mar2005-westindia-desouza-trust-scholarship.htm For the profiles of previous award winners see http://www.britishcouncil.org/india-connecting-mar2005-westindia-desouzatrust,goascholarship.htm
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An interesting (!) aside: From Goan Voice UK, issue 2000-43:
31 Oct. 2000. Gomantak Times. [Summary]. Eric Sequeira, builder of Sequeira's Enclave, Ribandar was arrested by police and taken to Bombay as a result of the action taken by Savio D'Souza of Bombay. Savio had agreed to buy the flat in 1996 with completion scheduled for 1998. In July 1998, D'Souza wrote to Sequeira informing that he had been selected for a part-scholarship from De Souza Trust run by the British Council for specialisation in Media Management at University of Sterling and sought to cancel the agreement because of delayed construction. However, the cheques made out towards the refund bounced.
Write to me for full text, 661 words.
Eddie Fernandes
London
