UK universities offer scholarships to Banda Aceh academics

Brussels, 13 Jun 2005

Some 13 UK universities have teamed up to help rebuild the academic strengths of two Indonesian universities devastated by the tsunami on 26 December 2004.

The two universities in question - the Agama Islam Negeri Ar-Raniry Institute and Syiah Kuala University in Banda Aceh - lost one in ten of their staff and students and suffered major structural damage when the tsunami struck, and are still without direct communication links.

The UK universities will help by strengthening the research and teaching skills of junior academic staff in Banda Aceh through the 'British universities' scholarship scheme for higher education institutions in Aceh, Indonesia'.

As part of the agreement, each institution in the consortium will waive fees and cover living costs for one full Masters scholarship per year for the next four academic years, thus providing approximately 52 scholarships over the four year period. Candidates will be nominated by the Indonesian universities, and will then be selected by the UK institutions according to their normal admission criteria.

'It is very gratifying to see the UK's higher education community working together on such a positive project, and I hope that, in some small way, this scheme and our contribution to it will go towards helping the Indonesian people begin to rebuild their future,' said Vice-Chancellor of Newcastle University, Professor Christopher Edwards.

The British Council in Indonesia will also support the scheme by providing free English language tuition to scholarship candidates.

The participating UK universities are: Leeds (coordinator), Birmingham, Bristol, Cambridge, Cardiff, Glasgow, Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle, Nottingham, Sheffield, Southampton and York.

CORDIS RTD-NEWS / © European Communities
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