As many as 340 Australian undergraduates will take short-term courses and internship programmes in Vietnam in 2017 as part of the New Colombo Plan Scholarship Programme, unveiled the Australian Embassy on September 26.

The students from 22 Australian universities will study and undertake internships at over 30 institutions in Vietnam in a broad range of areas including business management, education, health, engineering, hospitality, urban design and regional planning.

Australian Ambassador to Vietnam Craig Chittick remarked that the result demonstrates Australian students’ increasing interest in Vietnam, representing a wonderful compliment to the strong and long-lasting education ties between the two countries.

He also expressed his hope that the new insights and understanding about Vietnam as well as new friendships that Australian students have established in the Southeast Asian country will benefit the bilateral relations between the two countries for a long time.

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 carry out part of their study and undertake internships in the region.

By 2017 the total number of Australian undergraduate students who live, study and take up internships in countries in the Indo-Pacific region under the New Colombo Plan mobility programme will exceed 17,000.

VNA