The University of Queensland received nearly 1.3 million in New Colombo Plan (NCP) mobility grants to support 367 students across 22 projects in 13 host countries.
The projects who received the most funding (AU$132,000 each) were semester long exchanges to Vietnam and Singapore exploring tropical horticultural architecture and internships through Startup AdVentures with Singapore’s best technology startups.
NCP is a flagship initiative of the Australian Government to increase awareness of the Indo-Pacific region in Australia and strengthen our institutional relationships and people-to-people links through study, internships, mentorships and clinical placements undertaken by Australian undergraduate students.
Dr Jessica Gallagher, Pro-Vice-Chancellor of Global Engagement and Entrepreneurship said that in addition to planning for physical mobility experience once travel is again possible, a number of experiences will be made available virtually throughout 2021 as connecting globally with our neighbours through higher education is invaluable to a student’s future.
“These experiences can open our students’ eyes to new career paths and a global network of employers,” she said.
“If the pandemic has taught us anything, it’s that we’re all connected and there is no barrier to a global education with the technology now available to us and the capacity of people to innovate.”
A further four UQ students were awarded the prestigious 2021 New Colombo Plan Scholarship: Maxwell Broad (New Caledonia), Joshua Grice (Singapore), and James Cafferky (Japan), and CODA (Child of Deaf Adults) student Adele Greedy-Vogel (Thailand) who wants to make her mark in disability inclusion.
Before COVID-19 stopped international travel last year, UQ received its highest grant allocation in the 2019 New Colombo Plan mobility round since the mobility plan started in 2014. Nearly $2.1 million in funding helped more than 500 UQ students to study overseas and realise their ambitions.
MEDIA: Dr Jessica Gallagher, Global Engagement and Entrepreneurship Pro-Vice-Chancellor, j.gallagher@uq.edu.au, +61 7 3365 7366.
