Meenakshi Lekhi said some foreign scholars were also provided the alumni ID card. File. The Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) launched an India Alumni Portal on Saturday, as a platform to connect with foreign students around the world who have studied in India. The minister of state for external affairs Meenakshi Lekhi has launched the portal in the presence of ICCR president Vinay Sahasrabuddhe.
Lekhi said, “This is in line with PM Narendra Modi’s vision to build an India alumni network to engage them & keep them connected & updated on a dynamic India so they can be the bridges of friendship.”
The India Alumni Portal (www.iccr.almaconnect.com) will connect all foreign scholars who have studied in India including ICCR scholars who can be India’s best ambassadors, offering invaluable soft projection across their personal and professional lives, Sahasrabuddhe added.
The portal is to be a single platform for all past and present foreign scholars to register, interact, maintain their Indian linkages and remain anchored India. It will also facilitate continuity and re-connecting with many past scholars and offer a single platform for all past and present scholars to register, interact, share conversations and make contributions. Indian missions abroad will also harness these contacts in various way.
Besides, the ICCR said in a statement that to engage the alumni in the best possible ways, the Indian missions overseas will form alumni associations in the countries of their accreditation and celebrate an alumni day. Other activities will include inviting alumni association members to meet the Indian dignitaries visiting that country and providing information with regard to the ICCR scholarship facility through the alumni.
ICCR has been offering scholarships to foreign students for the past 40 years and now, through the portal, the organisation hopes to create an important platform of cultural ambassadors of India. It is estimated that the ICCR alumni is nearly 30,000 strong and the portal will, therefore, also facilitate re-connecting with past scholars.
- The Indian Express website has been rated GREEN for its credibility and trustworthiness by Newsguard, a global service that rates news sources for their journalistic standards.
