Govt awards 10 international doctoral scholarships

Tertiary Education Minister Steven Joyce has today announced the awarding of scholarships to 10 top international scholars who will study at New Zealand universities next year.

He says the scholarships provide a great opportunity to showcase our universities to the world.

"I fully expect that these scholarships, and those awarded in previous years, will result in interest and enrolments well beyond the scholarships themselves."

"The New Zealand education system provides students with the knowledge and skills to achieve results equal to the world's best.

"The scholarship programme is about sharing this excellence with the rest of the world, and bringing the best to New Zealand to share their knowledge with us."

The ten successful recipients, selected from 300 applications, are from Canada, Colombia, Germany, Iran, Turkey, the UK, and the US.

The projects that these students will work on range from areas such as the human impacts on marine biology; to better understanding volcanic eruptions, river management and sustainable forestry; through to looking at viable power sources for small electronic and mechanical devices.

Funded by the New Zealand Government and administered by the Education New Zealand Trust, NZIDRS provide financial support for international students undertaking doctoral degrees by research in New Zealand universities. Scholarships are awarded for three years. Up to 10 scholarship places are awarded annually. A total of 196 students out of 2624 have been awarded the NZIDRS since the programme started in 2004.