The Endeavour Australia Cheung Kong Scholarship Programme represents a unique partnership between the Cheung Kong Group and the Australian Government to support educational exchange between undergraduate and postgraduate students in Australia and Asia.
The Cheung Kong Group has a long history of supporting education through international scholarships. As a global company with operations in 57 countries worldwide, the Group fully recognizes the importance of cross-cultural understanding and awareness. The Cheung Kong Group therefore approached the Australian Government with the idea of initiating a scholarship programme to facilitate educational exchange between Australia and Asia. With the support of the Australian Government, the Endeavour Australia Cheung Kong Scholarship Programme was formed, representing the first public-private sponsorship of its kind in Australia. The initiative provides Australian and Asian students with the invaluable opportunity to study abroad and widen their horizons.
The Cheung Kong Group sees great value in the Programme as a channel for nurturing exchange between Australia and Asia and giving students more opportunities to widen their international perspective. An old Chinese proverb that says ¡§Learning has no boundaries¡¨ is the philosophy that lies at the heart of the Programme. The Endeavour Australia Cheung Kong Scholarship Programme presents a significant, innovative and extensive opportunity to foster mutual understanding between students in Australia and Asia. Through the Programme, promising students are given the opportunity to break down boundaries and learn about different cultures as part of their studies.
The Programme was announced in June 2004 and was originally envisaged to be a three-year initiative, offering educational exchange opportunities via the Endeavour Cheung Kong Student Exchange Programme to 100 undergraduate students and via the Endeavour Australia Cheung Kong Research Fellowships to 40 postgraduate students each year. Half of the scholarships were designated for Australian students going to Asia and half for Asian students going to Australia, with 2/3 of these awards earmarked for Hong Kong and Mainland China. Since the launch of the Programme, we have received very enthusiastic feedback from the educational communities in Australia and Asia.
In its short history, the Programme has been several times oversubscribed each year. Accordingly, the Cheung Kong Group and the Australian Government agreed in 2006 to extend the duration of the Programme to five years. Over this period, the Cheung Kong Group and the Australian Government will contribute matching funds to the Programme. To support more exchanges and to meet the incredible demand for such opportunities, the funds have been re-allocated to support 200 undergraduate exchanges and 20 postgraduate scholarships each year. The total A$7.5 million in funding will support the participation of nearly 1,000 students in educational exchange opportunities over the course of five years.
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