NEW ZEALAND Ambassador David Strachan encouraged graduates from Visayas and Mindanao to take advantage of the 24 slots available for the 2020 New Zealand Masters and Doctorate scholarships.
The application for school year 2020 intake started on Feb. 15 and will run until March 28, 2019. It is open to eligible candidates from the public, private and civil society sectors.
“We have now given a preference to give priority to students in Visayas and Mindanao in our scholarship program, and I am pleased to say that last year, we had seven from the Visayas out of 24. I am quite proud that we have gone from nothing to seven,” said Strachan.
Ambassador Strachan was in Cebu this week for their scholarship roadshow to different universities in Cebu.
“The other day, we were in University of the Philippines (UP). Last week, we were also in Mindanao,” he said.
The New Zealand Aid Programme, that started around 1970s in the Philippines and in other Asean (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) countries, focuses on using New Zealand’s expertise in agriculture, knowledge and skills, and disaster risk management to support sustainable economic development in the country.
“It makes a lot of sense, in terms of your own national governance’s priorities, to address economic development,” stated Strachan.
He recalled that back in 2014, all of the “Study in New Zealand” program scholars in the country came from Luzon.
“When I first arrived (in the Philippines) back in 2014, a hundred percent of the scholars under the AID program came from Luzon. Not one single student came from Visayas or Mindanao. It’s only been really in the last two years that we decided to do something about that,” he said.
For 2019, there were seven students from the Visayas (two of whom came from Cebu) including Emmanuel Decena (Master of Geothermal Energy in University of Auckland) and Jahzeel Tan, who took a Masters in Human Resource Management in the University of Otago, New Zealand.
“In 2018, there were about 563 applicants, but only 24 were accepted,” said Rune Raphael Ylade, manager of the New Zealand Aid Programme.
“This year, they have about six weeks to complete their application until March 28. All applications are undertaken online. They can just wait for our announcement in the New Zealand Embassy Facebook page for the link where they can apply,” Ylade added.
To qualify for the scholarship, applicants must be 18 to 39 years old at the time of commencing their scholarship. The interested applicant must have at least a year of work experience, and must agree to return to the Philippines for a minimum of two years upon completion of the study.
According to Strachan, scholars will enjoy free full tuition and will have the opportunity to choose which New Zealand universities they intend to attend to.
“The scholarship will cover full tuition, living expenses, establishment allowance, medical and travel insurance, and travel to and from the Philippines,” he explained.
“Priority sectors are Disaster Risk Management, Renewable energy, agri-industries, private sector, and public sector governance,” he added.
Regional Manager for South East Asia Education New Zealand Ben Burrows said New Zealand had a steady increase in enrollments from the Philippines over the past years.
“More and more Filipinos are considering to study in New Zealand because of our excellent universities and outdoor experience,” he said.