IN 2017, James Cook University undergraduate students will get an opportunity to study and/or undertake work-based learning in the Indo-Pacific region, thanks to an Australian Government grant.
“It’s great to hear that the Government’s New Colombo Plan mobility program will help 259 JCU students across the Cairns and Townsville campuses to travel overseas and study,” Mr Entsch said.
“The students will return home with new insights and understanding of the Indo-Pacific that will help them to contribute to the economic and cultural life of JCU and Far North Queensland.”
The grants are worth almost $875,000 in total and JCU New Colombo Plan Mobility Projects include:
– 64 dental, medical, pharmacy and physician assistant students will undertake clinical placements in Fiji, as well as undertaking language and cultural studies;
– 30 biology students will travel to Borneo in Malaysia for language, cultural and biology training alongside local students and biodiversity professionals.
“These are exciting projects that demonstrate the capacity and drive of our local students,” Mr Entsch said.
The New Colombo Plan is a signature initiative of the Australian Government to lift knowledge of the Indo-Pacific by supporting Australian undergraduate students to study and undertake internships in the region.
More than 7,400 Australian students will study and undertake work-based learning in the Indo-Pacific region in 2017 under the New Colombo Plan mobility program, taking the total number of students supported by the program in its first four years to more than 17,000.
Mobility projects take place across all academic disciplines, and range from short-term study programs to semester-length study and internships. The New Colombo Plan also includes a scholarship program, which will support around 100 students in 2017.
“I encourage students to talk to their universities about opportunities to study and undertake work placements in the region under the New Colombo Plan,” Mr Entsch said.
For more information on the New Colombo Plan, visit www.dfat.gov.au/new-colombo-plan.
