Date:26/12/2005 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2005/12/26/stories/2005122600530500.htm

Andhra Pradesh

Aussie scholarships

Top students from Asian countries, including India, will be receiving funding to study in Australian universities under a Government scholarship programme worth millions of dollars.The scholarship scheme will benefit students from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Indonesia, Vietnam and Japan, according to a report in The Australian newspaper.

It is to be undertaken under the Federal Government Scholarship Programme. Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said that 2,05,000 students from East Asian countriesare already studying in Australia.

"I think those numbers will increase and we will have a substantial number of students studying in Australia on scholarship programmes," he said. This scholarship programme is a new version of the Colombo plan that brought 20,000 Asian students to Australia between 1951 and 1980. The programme will also have the provision of Australian students to study in Asia.