13 Candidates Receive Study Grants

This was stated by Janice Mulleneux, chargé d’affaires at the Australian High Commission.

The calls for applications will be open from Tuesday for those who want to obtain scholarships for 2014.

Among the 13 Mauritian scholarship holders, three were selected for the Australian leadership award scholarships amongst a total of 200 requests.

“Three being awarded to Mauritius is an outstanding accomplishment which demonstrates the high regard in which we hold our Mauritian awardees,” explained Mulleneux.

Every year, there are around a thousand scholarships that are offered to 51 African countries, including Mauritius.

For the current year, a total of 1,016 scholarships were awarded and 33 Mauritian have been chosen for 2012, against 15 in 2011.

According to Mulleneux, the different fields of study are determined in advance by the respective African governments and are communicated to the Australian Government.

The objective is to support capacity building for the development of these countries so that they can achieve the Millennium Development Goals. Therefore, the student visa does not allow them to work.

“This is also one of the reasons for which they have received a grant allowing them to lead a normal life during the period of training,” she highlighted.

She added: “The scholarships cover all tuition, airfare round trip, health insurance and an allowance of 28,000 Australian dollars, which is Rs 840,000 annually.”