Scholarship awards to Asia show diverse study opportunies

Scholarship awards to Asia show diversity in study opportunities

Twenty one University of Auckland students will receive Prime Minister’s Scholarships to study in Asia next year.

The Government’s aim is to strengthen personal and cultural connections with New Zealand’s economic partners in Asia.

Vice-Chancellor Professor Stuart McCutcheon believes the scholarships are excellent encouragement for more students to gain international experience as part of their degree.

“International exposure is becoming increasingly important for students as they progress their careers in today’s global work environment,” he says. “We welcome this government scholarship support and partnership with the tertiary sector as it works to better equip students for the future.”

The University aims for one in four of its students graduating with some form of relevant international experience by the end of the decade.

“These awards highlight the diversity of offshore opportunities that students are seeking,” says the University of Auckland’s Director International, Brett Berquist. “As well as the traditional exchange semester, we are seeing students travel offshore for research, language programmes and internships.”

Law student Charles Wong received funding to attend a semester at Tsinghua University in China through the University of Auckland’s exchange programme.

He says, “The experience will give me a diversity of views beyond that available in a typical degree. I hope in future to be able to help New Zealand businesses expand into China and the wider Asia Pacific.”

Raagini Vijaykumar is studying a conjoint Law and Arts degree, and has received funding for a summer internship in Shanghai.

“The programme provides Mandarin lessons and courses on Chinese business culture and values which I am really looking forward to, says Raagini. “China is one of the fastest growing markets and a key trading partner with NZ; this experience will aid in my goal to work in the international law field when I graduate.”

There are two rounds of scholarships awarded each year with a total $1.8 million available nationwide. The University of Auckland had the most scholarship recipients in the individual category this round and received the largest share of individual scholarship funding.

The students were awarded varying amounts towards tuition fees, flights and living costs, depending on their study requirements and destination.

Fourteen of the scholarship recipients are participating in exchange programmes, five will be undertaking language courses, two will be completing internships, two will be completing full masters programmes, and one will be undertaking a research project.

Scholarship applications are also open to groups. Earlier this year, a group of ten students from Development Studies (Faculty of Arts) was awarded $65,000 for a six-week programme to study Post-Disaster Recovery Processes and Disaster Risk Management in Indonesia and Thailand.

Applications are now open for the next round of PMSA scholarships (applications close 30 March 2016). For more information see the Education New Zealand website.

University staff who are interested in learning more about group funding opportunities can contact Ross Crosson at the International Office, at r.crosson@auckland.ac.nz

This round’s scholarship winners:

• Melissa Heng (BA) – Korean language programme (Korea)
• Grace Tan (BA/BCom) – Chinese language programme (China)
• Ken Xie (BSc) – Masters in Engineering - Advanced Computing (China)
• Michael Tracey (BA/LLB) – Korean language programme (Korea)
• Jessica Daniel (BE(Hons)/BSc) – Research project (Singapore)
• Chitra Vinnakota (PGDipSci) – Internship (India)
• Tony Sung (PGCertLaw) – Masters of Law (Singapore)
• Eva Laurenson (BA/BCom) – Chinese language programme (Taiwan)
• Raagini Vijaykumar (BA/LLB) – Internship (China)
• Adi Adi (BA/BCom) – Korean language programme (Korea)
• John McHardy (BA/LLB(Hons)) – Exchange programme (Hong Kong)
• Corey Coker (BA/BCom) – Exchange programme (Japan)
• Anni Yang (BCom) – Exchange programme (Hong Kong)
• Erica Jeon (BA/BCom) – Exchange programme (Korea)
• Adam Qi (BCom) – Exchange programme (Singapore)
• Guy Hermanoche (BCom/BE(Hons)) – Exchange programme (Singapore)
• Jess Young (MArch(Prof)) – Exchange programme (China)
• Thomas Williams (BCom/BE(Hons)) – Exchange programme (Singapore)
• Kylie Pan (BSc) – Exchange programme (Singapore)
• Daniel de Jongh (BA) – Exchange programme (Hong Kong)
• Jonathan Sulinom (BSc) – Exchange programme (Japan)
• Charles Wong (LLB(Hons)) – Exchange programme (China)
• Aska Yoshida (BA/BSc) – Exchange programme (China)
• Naomi Simon-Kumar (BA/BSc) – Exchange programme (Japan)

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