ISLAMABAD, May 5: The Australian government will provide 500 scholarships worth $39 million for Pakistani citizens over the next five years to study in Australia, said a press release.

Two hundred Australian Development Scholarships will be offered for postgraduate study at Australian universities at masters and PhD level, focusing on areas such as governance, education, transnational crime prevention, trade, health and agriculture.

The remaining 300 scholarships will be part of the Endeavour Programme, which enables high achieving students, scholars and professionals to undertake study, research or professional development in Australia. They are open to all fields of study.

The scholarship package has been designed to support Pakistan’s development, education and research needs. The first students under the new expanded programme of scholarships will begin their studies this year.

The five-year scholarship programme will build people-to- people and institution-to-institution links between two countries. To build on these relationships and forge a long-term partnership, Australia will establish an alumni association.

Australia is to double the number of educational scholarships which it offers in the Asia-Pacific region to provide nearly $1.4 billion in funding over five years for more than 19,000 scholarships.

The new programme, Australian Scholarships, would bring together Australian Development Scholarships (ADS), managed by Australia’s International Aid Agency, AusAID, and Endeavour Scholarships, administered by the department of education.

A new component, the Australian Leadership Awards (ALA), will target future leaders in the region for advanced study.

From May 2006, the Australia Department of Education would provide up to 9,700 scholarships under an expanded Endeavour Programme. AusAID would provide 6,600 scholarships through the Australian Development Scholarships programme and 3,200 Australian Leadership Awards.

The leadership awards would focus on current and future leaders in business, education and government within the region.

Endeavour Scholarships provided international education experiences across the vocational and technical education and higher education sectors, as well as postdoctoral research and professional development opportunities in Australia and overseas.

The development scholarships programme supports development needs in recipient countries. The total cost of Australian Scholarships would be $1.387 billion.