The very concept of instituting scholarships to meritorious students to pursue higher education was an offshoot of the declared motto of the Kerala State Higher Education Council; that is to bring about equity and excellence in higher education sector. Act 22 of 2007, by which the KSHEC was set up, empowers the council to evolve schemes for providing equitable opportunities for higher education through scholarships and free ships and financial assistance to the needy students. Invoking the foregoing provision of the Higher Education Council Act, a unique Higher Education Scholarship Scheme was framed and launched in 2009. One thousand first year undergraduate students who pursue studies in science, humanities, social science, and business study streams in Government/Aided Colleges and Universities of the State are selected for the scholarships every year. The scholarships of the awardees so selected would be renewed in the ensuing years till they complete their post graduation. Students pursuing professional courses are not eligible for Higher Education Scholarships of the Council.
 The Higher Education Scholarship Scheme is a continuing and regular programme introduced by the Council in 2009, for the benefit of students undergoing non-professional courses in Universities and govt./aided colleges in the state. It is a scholarship scheme primarily intended to attract excellent students to various disciplines in Basic Sciences, Human Sciences (Humanities & Social Sciences) and Business Studies.

  The general feedback of the scheme received over the years from student community, parents and academic fraternity is encouraging. It is rated as one of the most popular scheme implemented in the higher education sector of our State during the last decade. On an average around 25,000 fresh undergraduate students apply for the Higher Education Scholarships of KSHEC every academic year. But, as the number fresh scholarships for each academic year is limited to 1000, only around 4% of the applicants get the scholarships. Though the popular demand is to double the number of scholarships, the Council has decided to put forward a proposal to increase the number of fresh scholarships (for first year undergraduate studies) to 1200 from 1000.