The Department of Science and Technology, Central Government has relaunched the INSPIRE SHE Scholarship Scheme after a long wait of two years. Online application for this can be done till 7 December 2026. However, this time many changes have been made in the rules of the scheme. Now the provision of scholarship amount and mentoring grant has been revised. Apart from this, the rules regarding academic performance have also been made stricter. Students who do not meet the eligibility criteria will not receive financial aid.
Inspire She (Scholarship for Higher Education) aims to encourage students to pursue higher education and research in science subjects. Under this scheme, 12 thousand meritorious students will be selected from across the country. To apply, the age of the candidate should be between 17 to 22 years and he/she should have passed 12th examination in the year 2025. Interested students can apply at the official website www.onlineinspire.gov.in.
You will get Rs 3.40 lakh in five years
Under the scheme, selected students will get Rs. 5,000 i.e. Rs. 60,000 will be given as a scholarship. This assistance will be provided for five years. Apart from this, a mentorship grant of Rs 20,000 will be given for research work in the third and fourth years. In this way a student can get a maximum of Rs 3.40 lakh. Earlier there was a provision to give mentorship grant every year, but now it has been limited to two years only.
These students will get priority
Students taking admission in basic and natural science courses like B.Sc., BS and Integrated M.Sc. Recognized institutions will be eligible for this scheme. Candidates who are in top 1% of 12th in their board, have secured top 10,000 rank in JEE or NEET, cleared NTSE, JBNSTS and won medal in International Olympiad can apply. Preference will be given to top one per cent students taking admission in integrated MSc and BS-MS.
If you fail, the full scholarship will cease
The new rules have tightened the academic performance. Failure in the first year or scoring less than 60 percent marks or less than 7 CGPA will make the student ineligible for the entire scholarship period. At the same time, if there is failure in subsequent years, the scholarship will be stopped immediately. There was an option to get the scholarship again the following year if certain conditions were met.
The seat allocation formula was also changed
Now the scholarship quota available for various boards will be decided based on the number of scholarship candidates appearing in the 12th examination. Earlier the allotment was proportional to the number of approved applications. Experts have expressed concern about this change. He says students from states with high population can benefit from this, while seats in other boards are likely to remain vacant.
In addition, the list of eligible science subjects has been increased from 18 to 28 at the graduate level and from 30 to 35 at the masters level. To apply, students have to upload a passport size photograph, 10th and 12th marksheet along with an endorsement form signed by the principal or director of the college.
