NIAS Maiya Prodigy Fellowship Programme
by National Institute of Advanced Studies (NIAS)
₹50,000 Fellowship
Pan-India gifted education fellowship awarding INR 50,000 plus multi-year mentorship to academically exceptional students who complete Grade 10 with strong performance.
Mode
Hybrid
Fee
Free
Participation format
Individual
Duration
One-time fellowship award with mentorship continuing for at least five years
Eligibility
Open to students aged 16 to 18 across urban and rural India who have completed Grade 10 in the past academic year with at least 80 percent. Selection is through a two-stage process combining a written test and an interaction round, designed to surface creativity and analytical thinking. The programme is described as highly competitive but inclusive.
- Grade level
- Grade 11 to 12
- Age range
- 16 to 18 years
- Eligibility region
- Available nationwide across India
- Academic requirement
- Minimum 80 percent score in Grade 10 in the past academic year
- Prerequisites
- Completion of Grade 10 in the past academic year
- Minimum 80 percent score in Grade 10
- Demonstrated creativity, problem solving and analytical thinking
See if your child qualifies.
Rewards and recognition
Award
₹50,000
One-time fellowship award of fifty thousand rupees to selected fellows.
Career pathways
Multi-year mentorship led by established professors and researchers and student mentors from eminent institutions including IISc.
Recognition
National Gifted Education Recognition
Skills your child builds
How to apply
- 1Register on the NIAS-EGT identifying talents portal during the open application window
- 2Submit Grade 10 marks and supporting documents
- 3Appear for the two-stage selection comprising a written test and an interaction round
- 4Selected fellows receive the one-time fellowship and join the multi-year mentorship cohort
Rules and guidelines
- Fellowship is awarded only after passing both stages of the selection process
- Mentorship runs for at least five years post-selection
- Programme is anchored at NIAS, Bengaluru, with mentors drawn from eminent institutions
About this opportunity
The NIAS Maiya Prodigy Fellowship Programme is a national gifted education initiative anchored by the Programme on Education for Gifted and Talented students at the National Institute of Advanced Studies, Bengaluru. The acronym MaiYa stands for Mentoring to Attain International Youth Achievement and PRODIGY stands for Promoting and Developing India's Gifted Young.
The programme is open to academically exceptional students from across urban and rural India who have completed their tenth grade with at least eighty percent in the past academic year. Selection follows a two-stage process designed to identify creativity, problem solving, analytical reasoning and the ability to defend arguments rather than examination performance alone.
Fellows receive a one-time award of fifty thousand rupees and continue to be mentored for at least five years. The mentoring focuses on study skills, research strategies, project work in specialised areas of interest and career awareness, with established professors and researchers and student mentors from eminent institutions including the Indian Institute of Science.
The initiative is supported by the Iyengar Foundation and by National College Basavanagudi under the National Education Society. Past cohorts have included students from rural and tribal areas of Karnataka alongside urban applicants, with selection panels drawing on academics from IISc, JNCASR, BARC, IGCAR and NIAS.
What your child will do
- Two-stage selection comprising a written test and an interaction round
- One-to-one mentoring with established professors and researchers
- Annual mentorship workshops with experts from India and abroad
- Project work in specialised areas of interest
Mentors and faculty
Established professors and researchers, and student mentors from eminent institutions including the Indian Institute of Science.
Languages
Frequently asked questions
What does the multi-year mentorship actually look like for fellows?
Fellows are paired with established researchers and student mentors for one-to-one guidance and join annual mentorship workshops covering study skills, research strategies and project work over at least five years post-selection.
How do parents prepare students for the two-stage selection?
Stage 1 rewards original thinking on knowledge from the student's areas of interest, while Stage 2 rewards confident articulation. Parents typically support reading widely and structured argumentation practice.
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