Bangalore: The University of Cincinnati will grant undergraduate scholarships worth $1 million to Indian students from the next academic year, the American university said on Wednesday.

"We will provide two full scholarships to undergraduate Indian students joining our university in fall 2011. The eligible students should be brilliant and having overcome disadvantages during their educational pursuits," the university's international admissions director Jonathan Weller said in a statement here.

The mid-west university will partner with a non-government organization (NGO) to help identify the two eligible students.

"As Indian students have made significant research contributions, we look forward to more interest from such students to enrich our university," Weller said.

Of the 2,000 students reading in the university currently, 650 are Indian.

The university also offers scholarships ranging from $1,000-12,000 per annum to international students joining undergraduate courses.

The university is credited with innovating the first anti-histamine for treating allergies, the first live polio-vaccine and the first use of the Yttrium Aluminum Garnet (YAG) laser to remove a brain tumor.

"We have created a unique educational programme called cooperative education or co-op to strike a balance between academics and professional practice," Weller pointed out.

The university is actively engaged in India, with 18 faculty led projects ranging from lead paint prevention programmes to teaching math and science to rural children.

"We also encourage American students to explore India and its wonderful culture and people. A batch of 12 students will assist a non-profit group called Design Impact to work at Thiruchuli village in Tamil Nadu this year to develop fair-trade soap that can be sold overseas as a smokeless clear-burning charcoal briquette to reduce the village's dependence on kerosene and cooking gas," Weller added. IANS