About Us
Fomento Scholars
Fomento Scholars is an endeavour aimed at providing deserving students from Goa with the opportunity to pursue high-quality engineering education in the United States of America. The students are selected each year from students pursuing Std XI Science in Goa through an extensive selection procedure.This programme started in the academic year 2014-2015 and every year 5-6 students are sent to SDSMT for Undergraduate Engineering Education. Many more students are expected to join this group in years to come.
The scholarship presents a golden opportunity to students from across the state to pursue education at one of the best public universities in the US. Through this program, the student will get an enhancing cultural experience as well as the opportunity to participate in cutting-edge academic research.
The selection process tests the enthusiasm and the ability of the student to pursue quality education and apply it for the betterment of the society. We seek students having good academic track record as well as a thirst for knowledge and the ability to implement it. Further, the candidate should have a strong bond with Goa and Goans, and the promise to make the state of Goa proud.
The program is funded through seed capital provided by Sociedade Fomento de Industrial, a Goan business conglomerate. The scholars are expected to replenish the corpus by contributing a small portion of their income over the years to ensure the long-term sustainability of the program.
Fomento
Fomento was founded in the 1950’s and has since helped etch Goa’s name on the mineral map of the world with markets in Europe and Japan. Fomento has emerged as a frontline producer of quality iron mineral in India with business interests in marine infrastructure, steel making, leisure & hospitality and media with its business foot print in five states of India and in Africa and Latin America.
Giving back to our people is a mission at Fomento. This has translated in initiatives such as Fomento Health (rural healthcare and drinking water), Fomento Green (Municipal Solid Waste Treatment) and Fomento Education (Scholarships under Goa Education Trust and Modu Timblo Scholarship at London School of Economics).
Fomento Scholars is our latest endeavour that offers Goan students the opportunity for top-quality engineering education at SDSMT. The leadership at Fomento expects the program to provide Goa with its next generation of leaders and role-models who could help take the state to greater heights.
Partner University
SOUTH DAKOTA SCHOOL OF MINES & TECHNOLOGY
Established in 1885 to develop mineral industry in the Midwest region of USA, SDSMT has come a long way to emerge as one of the leading technical educational institutions worldwide.
Having a campus in Rapid City, South Dakota housing academic blocks, residence halls, laboratories, playfields and recreational areas, SDSMT is a home to over 2500 students and faculty drawn from 40 states of the US and 27 countries. A favorable faculty to student ratio of 1:14 provides an environment for in-depth student faculty interaction. The school houses sixteen academic departments and offers more than 35 degree programs at the baccalaureate, masters, and doctoral levels. Small, interactive classes equipped with state-of-the-art facilities and laboratories are the characteristic of educational excellence at SDSMT.
SD Mines 24th for Return on Investment and First in South Dakota:
PayScale's newest annual College Return on Investment Report ranks the South Dakota School of Mines & Technology.
24th nationality for return on investment (ROI) with a 20-year net ROI of $ 718,000-in front of the likes of Purdue, Columbia, Dartmouth and major research, engineering and science universities like Michigan and Virginia Tech. Additionally, PayScale ranked SD Mines in the top 15 for both public and engineering colleges in the nation for in-state and out-of-state tuition. SD Mines also ranked first in PayScale's Best Value Colleges in South Dakota for in-state tuition and second for out-of-state tuition.The average starting salary of 2015 graduates is $62,300, with 98 percent landing jobs in their career field or enrolling in graduate school.
SDSMT Website: South Dakota School of Mines & Technology (SDSMT), USA
Corporate Partners
Through Fomento Scholars we have aimed to create an ideal platform for deserving students to pursue world class education without the burden of debt. Ours is not a cause of 'donating' money to the needy but rather of investing in talented youngsters who have the potential to multiply the investment many folds through their contribution to the society. We are developing a methodology of testing and mentoring high school students so as to identify and cultivate such high potential individuals at an early age. We also strive hard to inculcate the right values among our scholars so as to ensure that they make the most of the opportunity given to them and contribute to the society in whatever way possible, including themselves funding talented students through our program whenever they can afford to do so.
We feel that in doing so we have developed an excellent model for maximizing the impact of the money invested by us in this social endeavor. We are also looking for other like-minded companies who would like to partner with us in this endeavor and invest in young talent. While partnerships could be of various forms, we feel that the most productive tie-ups would be of the following kinds:
Funding Partner
This program could be an ideal platform for from Goa or other parts of India to invest a part of their CSR expenditure in a highly efficient manner. We feel that investing in higher education of talented youngsters is one of the best ways of giving back to the society and have developed a highly cost effective way of doing this. We would love to have more companies join us and help the scholarship pool grow.
Industry Partners
We believe that college education is incomplete without the right industrial training both during and after the four years of college. We are looking for engineering-related corporations, especially from USA, who would like to collaborate with us and help our students make the most of their college education through summer internships and jobs post graduation. We feel that we offer a lot of value for any such partner, especially companies with operations in India who will get access to top Indian talent that has received engineering education in the US.
Giving Back
The Fomento Scholars program is premised on Giving Back. Each Fomento Scholar who receives aid pledges to support one or more Fomento Scholar whenever his earnings can accommodate a plough back to sustain this program. As a child we read Aesop’s Fables which through the narration of Lion and The Mouse tells us, “No act of kindness, however small, is ever wasted”. Our happiness never decreases by sharing our resources. Being in a tight corner of life when everything looks dim, a helping hand from another person rekindles the light within us. We have to remember with gratitude the person or institutions who rekindle the flame within us and bring faith back.
Around us there are shining examples of who have given much more than what they probable recived from institutions they studied at. We list some such acts of Giving Back in the following links. We believe some among the Fomento Scholars will also join this list.
Harvard Business School Receives $50 Million Gift from the Tata Trusts and Companies
Hedge fund boss John Paulson gives a record $400m donation to Harvard
Mahindra Donates $10 Million to Harvard
IIT Bombay alumni gives Rs 2bn to Alma mater
“Giving is the highest expression of potency. In the very act of giving, I experience my strength, my wealth, my power. This experience of heightened vitality and potency fills me with joy. I experience myself as overflowing, spending, alive, hence as joyous. Giving is more joyous than receiving, not because it is a deprivation, but because in the act of giving lies the expression of my aliveness.” - Erich Fromm