Booking.com partners with two leading Indian universities to disburse scholarships to support and advance the prospects of women in STEM Careers

Booking.com will provide financial support to female undergraduate and postgraduate students attending Thapar Institute of Engineering & Technology and the Indian Institute of Science in India

Mumbai, 01 May 2019 – Booking.com, one of the world’s largest digital travel e-commerce companies, today announced new scholarship initiatives with two leading universities in India to help bridge the gender divide within the tech sector. Introduced to provide female students with necessary funding to advance their education in STEM (science, technology, engineering and math), scholarships will be granted to 12 undergraduate and postgraduate women studying subjects that include computer and information science, engineering, technology and mathematics. The grants will equal €170,000 (INR 1.3cr) across the two university agreements.

In India, Booking.com will support undergraduate students at the Thapar Institute of Engineering and Technology in Patiala and postgraduate students at the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore. All the scholarships will start in the 2019-20 academic year. Booking.com first introduced scholarships in 2017 for students at Oxford University in the UK and Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands, and as part of its concentrated efforts towards propelling the women in the technology industry across the globe,  the company this year extended this initiative to  two new countries - India and the US. In the US, Booking.com scholarships will be awarded to undergraduate students at Spelman College in Atlanta, Georgia, and postgraduate students at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York.

Commenting on the partnership, Ritu Mehrotra, Country Manager, India, Sri Lanka and Maldives at Booking.com said, ”Technology is one of the key contributors to the country’s socio-economic development. While advances are being made to bridge the social divide and provide equal opportunities to women, there still remains an under-representation of women in the technology sector. The prime objective of this initiative is to provide women with a strong foundation, give them the necessary training, skills development and mentorship at an early stage of their careers to encourage their journey in the technology space. Our partnership with these universities, which combine academic excellence in STEM with strong support for women across this field, demonstrates our ongoing commitment to promote diversity in the industry.”

Dr. Prakash Gopalan, Director of Thapar Institute of Engineering & Technology (TIET), Patiala, said, “We are delighted that Booking.com has initiated this unique scholarship for our female undergraduate students. Supporting more young women to study STEM subjects is a key priority at TIET, which has a rich history of encouraging women in engineering. These scholarships will play an important role in furthering this ambition and we look forward to building a lasting, successful partnership with Booking.com.”

Professor. Anurag Kumar, Director, Indian Institute of Science (IISc) welcomed the scholarships by saying: "We are extremely grateful to Booking.com for providing scholarships for female students to pursue master degrees in engineering fields at the Indian Institute of Science. We are keen on increasing the number of female students in the Institute, and we welcome Booking.com's support in helping us realize this goal. We look forward to a fruitful, long-term partnership with Booking.com."

About Women in Tech:

Booking.com annually commissions a study independently, with approximately 6,898 respondents (from the UK, USA, France, Brazil, The Netherlands, Germany, China, Australia, India and Spain). Respondents complete an online survey, answering questions pertaining to the technology industry and their experience in the industry further outlining the efforts they want companies to undertake to create a level playing field for all. Respondents include high school and undergraduate students entering the field, early career and experienced technology professionals and those returning to the sector.

Key findings from the India research study 3 released in March:

·         75%  (highest globally) of women feel that gender diversity is a top priority for the industry

·         Only 26% of women feel that their company does not prioritize gender diversity enough versus the global average of 54%

·         However a significant number of female re- entrants to tech in India view taking a career break as detrimental to their individual progression (83%), compared to the global average of 63%

·         While a high share (88%, global highest) say their company helped them update their technical or other skills following a return, closer to nine in ten (87%) believe that the industry needs to actively do more to support their re - entry to the field

About Booking.com:

Established in 1996 in Amsterdam, Booking.com B.V. has grown from a small Dutch start-up to one of the largest travel e-commerce companies in the world. Part of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: BKNG), Booking.com now employs more than 17,500 employees in 200+ offices in 70 countries worldwide.

With a mission to empower people to experience the world, Booking.com invests in digital technology that helps take the friction out of travel. At Booking.com, we connect travellers with the world’s largest selection of incredible places to stay, including everything from apartments, vacation homes, and family-run B&Bs to 5-star luxury resorts, tree houses and even igloos. The Booking.com website and mobile apps are available in 43 languages, offer over 28 million total reported listings, including more than 5.7 million listings of homes, apartments and other unique places to stay, and covers more than 147,000 destinations in 229 countries and territories worldwide.

Each day, more than 1.5 million room nights are reserved on our platform. So whether traveling for business or leisure, customers can instantly book their ideal place to stay quickly and easily with Booking.com, without booking fees and backed up by our promise to price match. Via our customer experience team, customers can reach Booking.com 24/7 for assistance and support in over 43 languages, any time of the day or night.

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