Six ANU students from a range of disciplines from print making and drawing to physics and Asian history have won scholarships to live and study in Asia and the Pacific under the Australian Government's New Colombo Plan (NCP) scholarships for 2016.
The New Colombo Plan was launched by Foreign Affairs Minister Julie Bishop in December 2013 as a platform for Australia's engagement with Asia. Students can spend up to 12 months at an overseas university, with an optional further six months to do an internship.
The program has been extended from the original four destinations to now take in 38 countries.
Of the six students, Alice Dawkins, who is the NCP scholar for Myanmar, has also been appointed a Fellow for her region as she was top-ranked scholar for the University of Yangon.
Linda Ma, who is studying a Bachelor of Philosophy (Arts), will head to the University of Hong Kong to continue her research in Development Studies.
"I'm really excited to work with researchers in the field that I'm interested in," she says.
The ANU College of Arts and Social Sciences student's main area of interest is feminist approaches to international political economies.
"That means understanding the ways that the global economy has a gendered face," she said.
Linda will begin her New Colombo Plan scholarship in January.
The 2016 New Colombo Plan Scholars are:
* Linda Ma, from the ANU College of Arts and Social Sciences, who will study at the University of Hong Kong;
* Alice Dawkins, from the ANU College of Law and the ANU College of Asia and the Pacific, who will study at the University of Yangon in Myanmar;
* Alek Sigley, from the ANU College of Asia and the Pacific, who will study at Sogang University in South Korea;
* Catherine Yen, from the ANU College of Asia and the Pacific, who will study at Thammasat University in Thailand;
* Diane Salim, from the ANU College of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, who will study at the University of Tokyo or Kyoto University in Japan;
* Grace Blake, from the ANU College of Arts and Social Sciences, who will study at the Chiang Mai University in Thailand.
ANU has had nine successful students go through the New Colombo Plan program across the 2014 and 2015 rounds, securing a total of $540,000 in scholarships. Of the nine students, four were appointed Fellows.
Further information on the scholarships is available at http://www.anu.edu.au/study/student-experience/new-colombo-plan-scholarship-program.
