More than 400 students will have the valuable opportunity to travel to the Indo-Pacific region to gain practical experience next year under the .
Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³» has been awarded a total of $1.7 million in the latest round of funding announced by Foreign Affairs Minister Julie Bishop and Education and Training Minister Simon Birmingham, with $1.36 million enabling 326 students to travel overseas for short-term and semester-long study and work experience.
A further 87 students will travel aboard as a result of $349,500 in continued funding for projects announced in 2015 and 2016.
The New Colombo Plan aims to lift knowledge of the Indo-Pacific region by supporting Australian undergraduates to study and undertake internships in the region.
A Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³» spokesperson said the funding strengthened Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³»’s commitment to supporting students to build meaningful networks and gain cross-cultural leadership and team work skills.
“International experiences transform students, providing them with the skills to address complex issues with a global perspective."
One project funded by the program will see 20 Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³» nursing and midwifery students work alongside social work students in India with local non-government and community-based organisations to promote health and wellbeing in the city of Bengaluru and the rural Tamil Nadu region.
said the international experience would give students an in-depth understanding of global healthcare.
“As part of the placement, students will be immersed in the culture of rural and urban India as they work alongside practitioners in low-resource settings and experience their daily lives,” Dr Brown Wilson said.
“They’ll build clinical and practice-based skills that can be applied in Australia, while gaining an insight into social and global issues such as poverty, public health and environmental challenges.”
Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³» students will take part in projects in China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Nepal, New Caledonia, Samoa, Singapore, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Timor-Leste, Tuvalu and Vietnam.
Projects cover a broad cross-section of disciplines including architecture, journalism, engineering, entrepreneurship, environmental management, French language, law, occupational and physiotherapy, and speech pathology.
Media: Melanie Martin, Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³» Global Engagement, 07 3346 0665, melanie.martin@uq.edu.au
