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

The Australia Awards are uniquely identified with Australia. Students under the Australia Awards are studying in fields critical to their countries' futures. For example, scholarships for Myanmar specifically support health, education and rural development—three areas critical for Myanmar's future prosperity. Women received almost 50 per cent of all long-term awards, demonstrating our continuing commitment to improving the lives of women by opening opportunities to education. The percentage of scholars successfully completing their awards and taking their skills home has been consistently above 95 per cent over the last decade. We are offering opportunities for more and more fields of study—at present, 12 per cent study in health; seven per cent in engineering related technologies; 13 per cent in agriculture; seven per cent in education— (Time expired)