(VNF) - Nearly 270 Australian students will undertake short term study or internships in Vietnam in 2016 under the New Colombo Plan’s mobility program.

This represents a 66 per cent increase on this year and makes Vietnam the ninth largest recipient of New Colombo Plan students.

These students will study a broad range of subjects including business management, agriculture, environmental studies, health, education, and anthropology at various universities and gain experience of Vietnam’s workplaces through internships with local businesses. Around 30 universities, organizations and businesses in Vietnam will host the students, including the Diplomatic Academy of Vietnam, Foreign Trade University, University of Economics Ho Chi Minh city, Thai Nguyen University; University of Da Nang, Bach Mai Hospital; Cho Ray Hospital and FPT Vietnam.

Illustration photo. (Source: jacdigital.com.au)

“I am very pleased to see the high and growing level of interest shown by Australian universities and their students in coming to Vietnam, as well as by Vietnamese universities and organisations in hosting the students. I believe that New Colombo Plan students will return home with new insights and understanding about Vietnam and new friendships that will help them to contribute to the comprehensive partnership between Australia and Vietnam,” said Mr Borrowman, Australian Ambassador to Vietnam.

“I can’t thank the New Colombo Plan program enough for the opportunity to come to Vietnam. With the connections I have made in here in a friendship, sporting and business sense, I am now planning to come back every year to continue these relationships,” said Tom Doer who has been studying at RMIT in Hanoi under the New Colombo Plan.

The New Colombo Plan is a signature initiative of the Australian Government to increase the number of Australians studying part of their degree in the region, deepening their knowledge and understanding of Indo-Pacific region and building people-to-people ties. It includes a range of grants and scholarships for short and longer-term study, as well as internships, mentorships, practicums and research at local universities or businesses.

Next year, the Australian Government will send more than 5,800 students to 28 locations throughout the Indo-Pacific region (including Vietnam) under the New Colombo Plan’s mobility program. The expansion of the program will take the total number of students funded by the program to more than 10,000 over its first three years./.

( VNF )