First Swiss recipient of overseas Indian award felicitated
Swiss citizen Rajendra Kumar Joshi has been awarded the Pravasi Bharatiya Samman Award, India’s highest award conferred on the Indian diaspora. He was recognised for his contribution to Swiss-style vocational education in India.
A native of Rajasthan, Joshi came to Switzerland in 1969 as a researcher and ended up founding a pharmaceutical company. After selling the company in 2006, he set up the Rajendra & Ursula Joshi Foundation (JCF) the same year with a vision to offer Swiss vocational training in India.
In 2016, the foundation helped set up India’s first vocational skills university – Bhartiya Skill Development University – in Jaipur with an investment of over INR1.5 billion (CHF21.6 million, $21.7 million). The institute offers diplomas and degrees in various trades like polymechanics, carpentry, car mechanics, electrics and nursing.
Joshi has also donated $1 million to the Nalanda university in central India to set up a professorial chair in the School of Historical Studies.
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