Scholarships Awardees Prepare to Depart for Australia
05 December 2007Seventeen Pacific Islanders, including 14 from Fiji and one each from Solomon Islands, Kiribati and Tuvalu, are to leave for Australia early in the New Year to undertake studies aimed at preparing them to address priority regional development and leadership challenges.
The seventeen include nine Fiji students who have been awarded scholarships under the Australian Development Scholarships (ADS) program and eight recipients of the Australian Leadership Awards (ALA) – five from Fiji and one each from the Solomon Islands, Kiribati and Tuvalu.
The Australian Development Scholarships and the Australian Leadership Awards are both part of the Australian government’s $1.4 billion scholarships initiative. Both programs promote sustainable development and excellence in education in the Asia-Pacific region.
The nine ADS students are an academically elite, yet diverse group, which includes school leavers at the top of their class through to mid-career professionals who have already made a significant impact in their specialties.
They will undertake demanding programs of study in areas regarded as crucial to the region’s development. Fields of study include public health, international trade, educational leadership, sustainable energy, forensic accounting, and nutrition.
The eight Australian Leadership Awards recipients will undertake studies in Australia in 2008 in the areas of educational leadership and climate change, international trade, international public health, and security/governance.
They will pursue degree programs at various universities around Australia and will join other ALA awardees from across the Asia-Pacific at a unique Leadership Development Program in mid-2008.
The Australian Leadership Awards program is the flagship of the Australian Scholarships initiative. It aims to strengthen leadership in the region by offering access to high quality education in fields of study that relate to priority themes of regional interest, such as international trade, pandemics, security, and climate change.
There are currently eighteen ADS students from Fiji studying in Australia, and there are also seven Fiji citizens already studying in Australia under the Australian Leadership Awards program.
(Note: Further information on scholarship opportunities is available at www.australianscholarships.gov.au. Scholarship opportunities are advertised in March each year in Fiji.)