Scholarships have no boundaries

Queensland winners of one of Australia’s most prestigious Asian-Australian educational scholarships were honoured at Parliament House in Brisbane this morning.

Fifteen of the past and current Endeavour Australia Cheung Kong Scholarship Program awardees were congratulated at a reception hosted by Premier Peter Beattie.

The $7.5 million scholarship program which covers student exchanges and research fellowships, was launched in 2004 to promote educational and cultural exchange between Australia and Asia.

Undergraduates receive up to $5000 and postgraduates up to $25,000 to study for or up to a year in another country.

UQ’s outgoing scholarship recipients from 2005-2007 include: Timothy Jackson (China), Alison Melville (Japan), James O’Hare (Hong Kong) Michael Frawley (Singapore), Togo O’Brien (China), Chi-Chun Hsu (Japan) and Jean Lim (China).

UQ’s 2007 incoming scholarship recipients include: Kaori Seiki (Japan), Ruxin Cao (China), Kwok Yu, Tai (Hong Kong), Chua Hua Kelvin (Singapore), Mei Li (China), Nao Hideka (Japan) and Yanan Guo (China).

UQ’s incoming research fellows are Fucai Cheng (Hong Kong) and Romie Bura (Indonesia).

UQ Deputy Vice-Chancellor (International and Development), Professor Trevor Grigg said the scholarships were a complete cultural and educational experience.

“These scholarships not only develop a students’ outlook and knowledge on many levels but usually end up being life-changing experiences — which many students are looking for.

“UQ believes very strongly in offering students an overseas learning experience as part of their study.”

Endeavour Australia Cheung Kong Program Coordinator Helen Thompson said the awards had been granted to 68 students studying in Queensland since their launch in 2004.

The scholarships are funded by a public/private partnership between the Australian Government and the Cheung Kong Group, a Hong Kong-based property and investment and philanthropic conglomerate.

UQ has had 14 undergraduate and four postgraduate scholarship students study at UQ.

Shandong University, China and The University of Kitakyushu, Japan, are two of the most recent additions to UQ’s student exchange program.

Ms Thompson said today’s reception recognized all Queensland awardees under the program, after similar events were held in Melbourne and Adelaide.

A total of 219 students from Australia, China, Japan, Hong Kong, Indonesia, South Korea, Thailand and Vietnam will receive Endeavour Australia Cheung Kong scholarships to travel between Australia and Asia in 2007.

MEDIA: Helen Thompson (0413 838 222) or Miguel Holland at UQ (3365 2619)