Fast Retailing launches sponsorship programme with IIIT-Delhi in India

The educational sponsorship programme will be funded by Fast Retailing and cover full tuition and related costs for a total of five freshman students a year, covering the full four-year period for a bachelor’s degree and two-year period for a master’s degree, the two entities said in a joint media release.

While the structure of the programme will be determined by the university to ensure it provides maximum benefit, recipients will be able to participate in Japanese language and culture studies and intern at Uniqlo India. Candidates who pass certain milestones will also be eligible to join Fast Retailing in Japan or Uniqlo in India, to help leverage skills they gain during their studies.

“We hope that our new programme will foster the skills that both India and our company will need in the future and help young talented individuals to become business leaders on the global stage. I believe these premier universities are uniquely well-placed to fulfil this mission,” said Tadashi Yanai, chairman, president and CEO of Fast Retailing, parent company of Uniqlo.

“The partnership with Fast Retailing will provide further impetus to our vision of being socially relevant, industry facing and globally connected,” said professor Ranjan Bose, director, IIIT-Delhi.

Fast Retailing is an active recruiter in India. Students from IIIT-Delhi and other top universities in engineering and technology education, were among Indian graduates to join the company’s global headquarters in Tokyo starting from 2019.

The latest initiative is also part of a global commitment by Fast Retailing, through the Fast Retailing Foundation, to offer educational programmes for young individuals to pursue a career in particular areas of interest. Among them are the Global Graduate Fashion Scholarship for talented students to study at world-class fashion graduate schools, and the Harvard Business School Scholarship, which provides educational opportunities to Japanese students.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (KD)