Education Minister Chris Hipkins has today announced the names of more than 290 young New Zealanders who will travel to destinations in Latin America and Asia for an international education experience on a Prime Minister's Scholarship for Asia (PMSA) or Latin America (PMSLA).
Of the awardees, who are part of the second 2018/2019 round, 68 will travel on an individual scholarship and 223 will travel as part of a group. All the awardees are recent graduates or are currently enrolled in universities, institutes of technology and polytechnics or private training establishments across New Zealand.
Awardees will undertake study, research and internship programmes in fields such as agribusiness, language, indigenous rights, textiles and fashion design, and sustainable development, for a period of four weeks to one year. Destinations include Brazil, Colombia, China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Thailand and Vietnam.
"The calibre of our awardees is something we can be very proud of - these young people will do a fantastic job representing New Zealand and, at the same time, extend themselves academically and develop new networks and skills," said Chris Hipkins.
"We are seeing a growing demand from individuals and education providers as well as private businesses and other organisations for the rich experiences these scholarships offer.
"International internships, in particular, continue to increase in popularity as students and faculty recognise their contribution to the development of inter-cultural skills that help people live, work and learn globally,' Chris Hipkins said.
The PMSA was launched in 2013 and extended to Latin America in 2016.
Notes to editors:
- PMSA awardees: https://enz.govt.nz/assets/Uploads/PMSA-2018-19-Round-2-Website-List-of-Awardees-Asia2.pdf
- PMSLA awardees: https://enz.govt.nz/assets/Uploads/PMSLA-2018-19-Round-2-Website-list-of-awardees-Latin-America5.pdf
- The PMSA/PMSLA programme is funded by the Government and administered by Education New Zealand (ENZ) - the amount awarded in this scholarship round totals $2 million.
- There are two PMSA/PMSLA rounds each year, and applications for the next round must be submitted by 30 August 2019. More information on the application process can be found here.
