Bob Carr (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

The Colombo Plan brought 20,000 scholars from Asia to study in Australia during the fifties, sixties and seventies. It was a good product for its time. Colombo Plan scholarships to Australia ceased in 1985 when the full fee paying international students were able to come here. But if the same scholarship program existed today—that is, the Colombo Plan—it would represent about half of one per cent of all international students studying in Australia. Those longing for a return to the days of the Colombo Plan are failing to recognise things have changed. Between 1951 and 1986, Australia provided 20,000 scholarships under the Colombo Plan. Under the Australia Awards, we provide that every four years. We award 5,000 scholarships and fellowships each year to people from over 100 countries—10 times the number of awards provided by the Colombo Plan.

Australia Awards are more flexible, allowing for both formal study and professional development opportunities. It is not all one-way traffic—Australian students benefit from scholarships to study overseas. Like the Colombo Plan, the majority of Australia Awards are offered in Australia at Australian institutions for students from around the world. In fact, the Senate would be interested to know that the number of Australia Awards will increase from 5,000 to 6,000 in 2014. The Colombo Plan was a good product for its time but is vastly overtaken by the Australia Awards in scale, in quality, in flexibility and in benefit to the recipients, and indirectly of course in benefit to the country that provides them, our country, Australia. (Time expired)