Australian Scholarships Strengthen Australia-Thailand Ties

HE William Paterson, Australian ambassador to Thailand, said all recipients are excellent scholars and professionals who will share their knowledge, in the spirit of learning and cultural exchange, between the two countries.

"Each year, new Australian Scholarship recipients travel to Australia, where they build enduring professional and personal networks with Australian scholars. This leads to strong, ongoing ties between our two countries," he said.

The Australian Scholarships Programme is the Australian government's initiative. It has more than doubled the number of Australian education awards previously offered in the region. The awards, worth about Bt37.91 billion, will give more than 19,000 people the opportunity to study and undertake research in Australia.

Australian scholarships have brought existing Australian Government Scholarship programmes managed by the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations (DEEWR) and the Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID) under one umbrella.

DEEWR has greatly expanded its Endeavour Programme by providing a range of post-graduate, undergraduate, vocational and technical education courses, research, and professional development awards. The programme brings high achieving students, researchers and professionals from around the world to Australia in a broad range of study fields and also enables Australians to do the same abroad.

For the 2008 academic year, 23 scholars from Thailand won Endeavour Awards to join others from the Asia-Pacific region to study and conduct research at internationally- renowned universities across Australia.

Also this year, three young Thai students have won Australian Leadership Awards (ALA). The awards aim to develop future leaders and address priority issues.

Source: Australian Embassy Bangkok