For four years, Jamwal Pratham Singh spent many nights fixing bugs and racing deadlines. This September, those hours will take him to the University of Naples Federico II in Italy, founded in 1224 and one of the oldest universities in the world.
A student of the Yogananda School of AI, Computers and Data Science, Jamwal has been awarded a fully funded Erasmus+ Scholarship under the European Union’s Erasmus+ KA171 International Credit Mobility Programme. He will spend five months at the university, from 14 September 2026 to 27 February 2027.
The news took a while to sink in. “It was surreal”, Jamwal says. “I had hoped for an international experience, but seeing it actually happen was hard to believe.”
The scholarship covers his full tuition and provides close to €6,000 towards travel and living costs, easing much of the financial pressure of studying abroad. Erasmus+ is among the EU’s most competitive exchange programs. Candidates are assessed on their academic record, motivation, and language proficiency, and only a small number from each university are selected in each cycle.
Office of International Affairs (OIA) Director Prof RP Dwivedi said, “What stood out in Jamwal’s case was the pattern behind it — his coursework, his project choices, and his interest in international exposure. This made him a strong candidate for the scholarship.” The OIA guided Jamwal through the application, nomination, documentation, and final selection. Prof Dwivedi said an overseas semester would broaden his academic understanding, introduce him to another culture, and widen his career options.
The scholarship will see Jamwal represent both the Yogananda School of AI, Computers and Data Science, and Shoolini University. “I owe a lot to my teachers and administrators, who have supported me throughout my studies,” he says.
The academic environment in Naples is one of his main attractions. “Beyond the coursework, I want to learn alongside researchers and students from a different academic system,” he says. “I’m curious to see how they approach problems that I have so far studied only in an Indian classroom.”
Living in Naples will also mean adjusting to a new language, an unfamiliar city, and a different daily routine. “I see this scholarship as an important step in my studies,” Jamwal says. “Moving to Italy will take me outside my comfort zone, but I am looking forward to meeting people and experiencing life in a new country.”
Muskan Dua
