Bhubaneswar: The higher education department on Tuesday extended the deadline for online applications under Bidesh Sikhyabruti Scheme, which is being introduced from this academic year. It will provide financial support to SC and ST students pursuing postgraduate and PhD courses at top-ranked foreign universities.The department on Tuesday announced that the last date for submission of applications through Odisha State Scholarship Portal (OSS Portal) has been extended from Sept 1 to Sept 18.The scheme is open to SC/ST students seeking to pursue postgraduate and PhD programmes in the top 200 foreign institutes/universities in the latest available QS World University Rankings at the time of submission of their applications. It is a state-sector scholarship programme announced by the state govt last year. Students belonging to SC/ST categories with an annual family income of up to Rs 12 lakh are eligible to avail benefits under the scheme. A total of 50 SC/ST students will be supported under the scholarship programme.The department said students interested in availing the scholarship for the 2025-26 academic year (Dec 2025-Jan 2026) and 2026-27 can submit their applications online through Odisha State Scholarship portal. The department had earlier released guidelines for Bidesh Sikhyabruti Scheme under which, among other things, the students should have scored a minimum of 65% in the last exam that they had appeared.Officials said the extension would provide additional time to eligible students to complete the application process and submit the requisite documents.