Joint release with Foreign Minister Julie Bishop
Today we announce the successful applicants for the 2019 New Colombo Plan Mobility Program, supporting the Australian Government’s commitment to deepen two-way engagement between Australia and the Indo-Pacific.
In 2019, the New Colombo Plan will support 11,817 students to take part in 792 mobility projects in 36 host locations in the Indo-Pacific. This is consistent with the 2017 Foreign Policy White Paper commitment to support at least 10,000 New Colombo Plan students a year.
This round represents the broad diversity of Australia with applicants chosen from 40 universities across the country, including rural and regional areas. Outcomes from this round also provide opportunities for Indigenous students to undertake mobility projects in the region.
The returning students from the 2019 mobility projects will increase the New Colombo Plan alumni to more than 40,000 young Australians since 2014 with experience of living, studying and undertaking work experience in the Indo-Pacific.
The New Colombo Plan is contributing to a generation of regional leaders with a deep understanding of, and enduring networks across, the Indo-Pacific.
Our commitment to strengthening relationships with the Pacific is supported by the first ever mobility projects in Niue and French Polynesia. The number of students taking part in Pacific-bound mobility projects will also rise by 11 percent, including a three-fold increase in student grants for projects in Papua New Guinea.
One in five students undertaking semester-length New Colombo Plan mobility projects will receive language-training grants – a new initiative announced earlier this year.