Helping students live, study and work overseas in 2017

Thanks to New Colombo Plan scholarships and mobility grants, Australia Awards-Endeavour Mobility Grants, scholarships and fellowships, and other government and industry initiatives, students from a diverse range of disciplines will be able to experience the academic and social cultures of other countries.

Scholarships and exchange programs will help Sydney students travel to all corners of the globe – from the Asia-Pacific and the Middle East, to Europe and the Americas – to undertake study, research and professional development.

2017 will also see an influx of scholarship students from different cultures and countries welcomed into the University of Sydney community.

New Colombo Plan 2017 scholars announced

Six University of Sydney students have been awarded New Colombo Plan (NCP) scholarships for 2017.

Bachelor of Arts (Geography) student Leah Emmanuel and Bachelor of Economics/Bachelor of Laws student Jimmy Huang have been named the NCP Fellows for Thailand and India respectively. Each year the highest-ranked New Colombo Plan scholar in each host country location is named a Fellow.

Leah plans to deepen her understanding of urbanisation and development in the region through studies at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok and will complete her Geography Honours field work on slum evictions with an internship in Indonesia. Jimmy will undertake study towards his Law degree at National Law School of India University and hopes to improve his understanding of microfinance and banking in the subcontinent through an internship in Bangladesh.

The four other University of Sydney students awarded NCP scholarships are:

• Sholto Douglas (Bachelor of Engineering/Bachelor of Commerce) will be based at Tsinghua University in China, and hopes to intern at a robotics firm.
• Elicia Lim (Bachelor of Food and Agribusiness) is keen to understand food security issues in the region during her time at Universiti Putra Malaysia.
• John Walker (Bachelor of Economics/Bachelor of Laws) is keen to use his time in South Korea to learn all he can about economic affairs in Asia and the Pacific while improving his Korean language proficiency at Seoul National University.
• Vivian Wang (Bachelor of Engineering/Bachelor of Arts) will develop her knowledge of telecommunications in Japan through her studies at Kyoto University and an internship at Mitsubishi.

The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Julie Bishop MP and Minister for Education and Training, Senator the Hon Simon Birmingham, announced the continued expansion of the New Colombo Plan in a ceremony last week.

"This is a remarkable achievement that reflects the commitment of the Government, our universities and business champions to invest in our young people and demonstrate our genuine commitment to long-term engagement with our region," Minister Bishop said.

Mobility grants will kick-start New Colombo Plan projects

The NCP scholars will join more than 7400 New Colombo Plan mobility grant recipients from 40 Australian universities in 2017.

For 2017, the University of Sydney has obtained funding for 23 projects in Cambodia, China, Fiji, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Samoa, Singapore, Taiwan, Tonga and Vietnam.

The more than 200 students who will be engaged in these projects come from a range of faculties including: Agriculture and Environment, Arts and Social Sciences, Business, Education and Social Work, Engineering and IT, Nursing, Law, and Science.

Find out more about the New Colombo Plan Scholarship Program.

Endeavour Awards scholarships bring next generation of global leaders to Sydney

The University of Sydney has also secured funding support for students to join Australia Awards-Endeavour Mobility projects. This includes 15 new Endeavour scholars from overseas who will undertake studies at the University of Sydney.

The Endeavour Awards is the Australian Government's internationally competitive, merit-based scholarship program providing opportunities for students to build global skills and perspectives through a variety of projects in different countries.

Students coming to Sydney next year include Shahreen Raihana, from the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research in Bangladesh, who has been awarded a PhD scholarship to work with Professor Michael Dibley from the Sydney School of Public Health.

Another scholar, Dr Manjula Magamage from the University of Sri Lanka, will undertake an Endeavour Research Fellowship at the ANZAC Research Institute, under the supervision of Professor David Handelsman.

Find out more about the Endeavour Awards Program.

Westpac backs five Sydney students with Asian Exchange Scholarships  

Five University of Sydney students will embark on a six-month exchange in Asia in early 2017 to advance their expertise and networks in the region, thanks to the Westpac Asian Exchange Scholarship.

The University of Sydney student Jordan Jolly, studying a Bachelor of Engineering (Space Mechatronics) and a Bachelor of Arts (Chinese) has accepted an exchange at Peking University, Beijing.

"I'm thrilled to have the opportunity to do an internship within a field I hope to move into in the future, while learning a lot from our Asian counterparts in both a technological and cultural sense," he said.

"Through marrying my love for Chinese language with engineering, I hope to gain the skills that will enable me to link the Chinese space industry with Australia and give me a unique focused understanding on the future of Australian Space innovation.”

Other University of Sydney scholarship holders will spend time at Peking University and Fudan University, Shanghai. They will each also complete volunteering, internship or intensive language courses to learn more about the Asian culture and way of life.

Read an announcement about the other scholarship winners and find out how to apply for a Westpac Asian Exchange Scholarship.