New Colombo Plan students to Malaysia announced
Malaysia’s participation in the Australian Government’s New Colombo Plan is set for a great start, with Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop announcing that Malaysia will receive four Scholars and 149 mobility program participants in 2015.
At an awards ceremony in Canberra on 2 December Ms Bishop said: “Our 2015 New Colombo Plan Scholars are among Australia’s best and brightest – they have demonstrated academic excellence, a strong commitment to engaging with our neighbours and the character to represent Australia with distinction across the region.”
Mobility grants were awarded to undergraduate students from Charles Sturt University, University of Wollongong, University of Tasmania, Deakin University, La Trobe University, Monash University, Swinburne University of Technology, The University of Melbourne, Victoria University and Curtin University of Technology. The mobility students and scholars will be the first to come to Malaysia under the New Colombo Plan, since Malaysia announced it would join the scheme from next year.
The Australian High Commissioner to Malaysia, Rod Smith, noted that participation in the New Colombo Plan in Malaysia had been widely supported by Australian and Malaysian universities, and had received significant interest from both students and businesses providing internship opportunities.
"It has been widely acknowledged as a significant program in the region by the various stakeholders. Similar to the Colombo Plan back in the 1950s, the New Colombo Plan is all about building people-to-people links and networks, and friendships and engagement that will last for a long time," he said.
The New Colombo Plan is a signature initiative of the Australian Government which aims to lift knowledge of the Indo-Pacific in Australia by supporting Australian undergraduates to study and undertake internships in the region. The Australian Government has committed AUS$100 million in new funding over five years to implement the New Colombo Plan.