The Madhvani Foundation last week awarded 172 university scholarships worth Shs 711,000,000 to gifted but financially-challenged students for the year 2016/2017 academic year.
The award is the largest by the foundation, coming in the 14th year since the programme was reinstated in 2003.
Foundation board member Gabriel Opio explained that they had a tough task sifting through the over 1,100 applications, before 338 were shortlisted.
“The foundation received over 1,100 applications from all regions of the country, of which 338 were shortlisted for final face-to-face interviews. The final list of students chosen represents the most promising and deserving students we were able to find,” Opio said.
He added that they were confident the selected students would complete their studies and go on to play a valuable role in the country. Opio added that eastern Uganda dominated the scholarships awarded with 33%, followed by the central region at 27%.
Awardees are drawn from students admitted for such programmes as Engineering (43%), Commerce (37%), Medicine (27%) and Agriculture (21%).
The awardees can obtain their formal award letters at Madhvani offices in Industrial area, Kampala starting from August 31, 2016.