Indian Council for Cultural Relations administers various scholarships programs annually and awards about 3000+ scholarships under 21 different schemes to foreign students from about 180 countries. Amongst these 21 schemes, six are funded by ICCR from its grant and others are administered on behalf of MEA and Ministry of Ayush. The courses offered for studies are for Under-graduation, Post-graduation, and Ph.D. levels. Each academic year, ICCR has about 6000+ of its foreign scholars who are studying at various Central/State Universities, Institutes, NITs, and Agricultural Institutions etc.

In a step forward towards “Digital India” ICCR developed the “Admissions to Alumni (A2A) Portal” to streamline the enrolment process. The portal was launched on January 17, 2018 by then Honorable External Affairs Minister Late Smt. Sushma Swaraj. With the introduction of the portal from the academic year 2018-19 onwards, ICCR Scholarship programs are not only digitized but also have become an effortless exercise. The portal contains all relevant information regarding ICCR sponsored scholarship schemes and other information like names of the Indian Universities, courses offered by them and guidelines of scholarship schemes etc.

The portal for academic session 2026-2027 will be opened from 27th February, 2026 at 17:00 hours (IST) to 15th April 2026 on A2A portal (http://www.a2ascholarships.iccr.gov.in) of ICCR.

The eligibility criteria for applying for the scholarship program are as follows:

Age (as on 1 July 2026):-

Minimum Age: 18 years (for all courses)

Maximum Age: 40 years for Undergraduate / Postgraduate / Diploma courses

Maximum Age: 50 years for PhD programmes

No upper age limit for courses in Art and Culture, unless specified by the concerned institution.