(VNF) - On October 1st, the Western Australian Minister for Education Hon Peter Collier MLC announced a series of new scholarships for Vietnamese students to study in Western Australia.

The University of Western Australia will offer scholarships to the value of VND4.9 billion to talented Vietnamese high school students entering undergraduate studies. This complements their existing VND2.16 billion scholarship program for Higher Degree by Research students.

Curtin University in association with the Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organization Regional Training Center will offer regional scholarships to Masters of Applied Linguistics students to the value of VND320 million.

Curtin University will also offer 50 Merit scholarships to high achieving students from Vietnam awarding eligible students 25% of their first year of tuition. The total value of these scholarships is worth VND6 billion.

The University of Notre Dame and Edith Cowan University will continue to offer scholarships for Master and PhD students.

This brings the total value of new and ongoing scholarships available for Vietnamese students wanting to study in Western Australia to more than VND15 billion.

Representatives from five Western Australian universities and a vocational training institute are part of the education mission to Hanoi taking place from September 30th - October 2nd, 2015.

The delegation has also met with a number of Vietnamese partners to foster and increase research and collaboration between Western Australia and Vietnamese universities.

The Western Australian Minister for Education said that many Vietnamese students are more familiar with the cities on the East Coast of Australia than they are of Perth and we want to strengthen their knowledge of the study and research options in Perth.

“Vietnamese students already play a vital role in adding an international dimension to Perth’s student mix and we are proud to recognise and celebrate their contribution to Perth and Western Australia”.

According to Mr Mike Ryan, StudyPerth (a non profit organisation that promotes Perth and WA as a world class study destination) Executive Director, with its excellent infrastructure, natural beauty, clean air, rivers and oceans, Perth has much to offer with its commercial success underpinned by world-class educational institutions and research facilities. It has been listed in the top ten places of 140 of the most liveable cities in the World by the London Economist Intelligence Unit for the past eleven years.

For the past four years, Perth has also been ranked in the Top 40 student cities in the World by Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) in London.

Each year, over 50,000 international students from corners of the world study in Perth, making it the number one city for international student persity in Australia. This ensures that students from Vietnam study with students not only from Australia, but from around the world, including from Europe, North and South Asia, Africa and North and South America.

There are 2,028 Vietnamese students currently studying in Perth, Western Australia. This number has increased by 24% over the past five years.

22% of PhD and Masters by Research Vietnamese students focus their research on Agriculture and Environmental Studies (including Aquaculture) at Western Australian universities, 16% are undertaking research in Medical Studies and 11% in Education Studies.

There are currently 314 Vietnamese students studying a Bachelor Degree in Western Australia with the top fields of study being Business Management, Natural & Physical Sciences, Hospitality, Engineering and Nursing.

There are also 526 Vietnamese students currently studying in the Vocational Education and Training sector in Western Australia with the top fields of study being Business Management, Literacy and Numeracy Programs, Hospitality, Cookery and General Education Programs.

These successful graduates will return to Vietnam with good English language ability and, with their new technical skills, will help to build capacity in Vietnam./.

( VNF )