schoolscolleges2020 hed news

Report by Karl Aparece
Photos by Rogelio Amarille

New Zealand Ambassador to the Philippines, His Excellency Peter Kell, visited Xavier University - Ateneo de Cagayan on February 4 to showcase post-graduate scholarship opportunities in New Zealand.

Kell was joined by Dyan Aimee Rodriguez (New Zealand Aid Program manager), Noelle Velasquez (policy adviser), and Education New Zealand represented by Desiree Lee, market manager (Education New Zealand), Angela Drake, manager for international relations (Massey University), and Yuki Fukui, regional market manager (University of Otago).

otago 2 LIFE IN NEW ZEALAND. Yuki Fukui talks about living in the "10-minute" city of Dunedin as an international student.

Rodriguez explained the specifics and requirements of the scholarship opportunities. Scholars will receive full scholarship, stipend, and other benefits shouldered by the universities.

Courses offered include but are not limited to good governance, food security and agriculture, and disaster and risk management.

The scholarship is geared towards development and graduates are required to go back to the Philippines for a minimum of two years to contribute to the country.

Only 24 scholars aged 18-24 years old with a minimum of two-year work experience will be pooled from the entire country. 

 

 

otago 3 FILIPINO HOSPITALITY. Desiree Lee tells the audience about the warmth of the Filipino scholars community in New Zealand.

Lee assured that scholars would not feel lonely in New Zealand because of the cohesive international community that universities have aside from the local community culture. She relates having bonded with tight Filipino community there.

 

otago 4 CONVERGENCE OF STUDIES. H.E. Peter Kell talks about farming and how different fields of study can contribute to farmers.

Interdisciplinary courses – Kell explained that so long as aspiring scholars can relate their majors to the courses being offered for scholarship and that they have a vision in mind on how they can contribute to the world, then they have the chance to be one of the 24 fortunate scholars.

He added that the NZ Embassy will work harder to bring more scholarship opportunities in the future, as well as to expand the courses offered by their universities. ∎

 

otago 5 ALL SMILES (L-R). Desiree Lee, Rechelle Ann Barraquias, Dr. Juliet Q. Dalagan, H.E. Ambassador Peter Kell, Yukie Fukui, Manilee Lorraine Pagapula-an, Don Velez, and Elisabeth Enerio.

 

Please visit www.mfat.govt.nz/en/aid-and-development/new-zealand-government-scholarships for more information regarding post-graduate scholarship opportunities.