SREEJITH Aravin-
dakshan,
hailing
from Kazhakuttom,
is all braced up for a two-year
sojourn in Europe. He is the
only Keralite to have been
selected
for
this
year’s
Erasmus Mundus scholarship
programme, which amounts to
24,000 Euros per year for two
years. Erasmus Mundus is a
cooperation
and
mobility
programme initiated by the
European
Commission
to
promote higher education in 27
member countries of European
Union and developing nations.
Sreejith
has
been
admitted
to
a
two-year
Erasmus Mundus Master
Course called SUTROFOR
(Sustainable Tropical Forestry
course). He is also the only
Indian among the ten other
candidates who have been
selected
for
this
course.
Sreejith was selected from a
total of 1,000 applicants from
all around the world.
“This is a big opportunity
for me. I had tried hard to
make it to the final ten,” said
Sreejith.
He was working as a
Research Consultant at
the
regional
office
of
the
International Maize and Wheat
Improvement
Centre,
commonly called CIMMYT,
New Delhi, when he was asked
to submit a research proposal
of contemporary relevance and
two copies of published articles
online in the initial stage of
selection. It was in August
2009 that the applications for
the
scholarship programme
were
invited. His research
proposal was
on REDD
(Reducing
emission
from
deforestation and degradation).
He also went
through a
telephone interview in which a
panel quizzed him on how his
proposal is going to help his
country.
Sreejith is a graduate in
Agricultural Science from the
College
of
Agriculture,
Vellayani. He also has a
masters degree in Ecology and
Environment from the Indian
Institute
of Ecology
and
Environment, New Delhi.
It was through Vijesh V.
Krishnan,
Agricultural
Economist, CYMMIT
and
Anoop
Parameshwaran,
Research
Economist,
CYMMIT that Sreejith came to
know about the scholarship.
“I was working with
World Wildlife Fund when I
happened
to
come across
Vij