Singapore offers scholarships in economics

JAKARTA: The Singapore Accountancy Academy-Global Education (SAA-GE) program says it will offer scholarships for its newest international program, a diploma in economics, to one eligible student per country, focusing on the Asia Pacific region.

“We will offer one scholarship for one country. The scholarship is full. It will be given to those who can meet the requirements,” SAA-GE academic program head Michael Cope said on the sidelines of the diploma’s launch.

“We will carry out standard recruitment for this scholarship program. The applicants should be 18 years old at a minimum, graduates of senior high schools with excellent scores, able to speak English fluently and have excellent scores in math,” he said as quoted by kompas.com.

All applicants must pass interview sessions, he said.

Indonesian students had a chance to get the scholarship as long as they could meet all the requirements, Michael said. — JP

Internships from the Asia New Zealand Foundation for Journalist

Reporter on Asian odyssey

Seamus Boyer | 17th February 2011

Phillipines-Bound: Daniel Simmons-Ritchie Photo / Lynda Feringa

Wairarapa Times-Age journalist Daniel Simmons-Ritchie will be flying to the Philippines capital Manila in October to take up an internship at the Philippine Star.

The internship is courtesy of an Asia New Zealand Foundation scholarship, which this year is giving two young New Zealand journalists the opportunity to work at a major Asian news organisation.

Mr Simmons-Ritchie, a Fraser High School and Whitireia journalism school graduate, said he is particularly keen to gain "the valuable experience of [visiting] another country".

"It will great soaking up another culture, in a part of the world that's growing massively."

He said he scooped the three-month internship after an initial written application and a phone interview, where he had to explain to the judges why he believed New Zealand journalists needed better knowledge of Asia.

The Philippine Star is an English-Language paper, and one of the country's top three papers in circulation.

It is also sold in Hong Kong and Saudi Arabia.

Mr Simmons-Ritchie said the experience was going to be an eye-opener after working at theTimes-Age since April last year.

"It's going to be a whole different ball game."

Apart from a family trip to Taiwan, he has never been to Asia, and is looking forward to the challenge of plying his trade in a city with a population of nearly 12 million.

"I really don't know because I don't know what they'll make me do ..I don't know if I'll be reporting on murders on my first day."