The Australia Awards Program is part of the Australia Awards initiative announced by the Australian Prime Minister in November 2009. The Australia Awards have been established to maximise the benefit to Australia of its extensive scholarship programs, and to support enduring ties between Australia and our neighbours.
The Australia Awards will bring together the international Australia Award administered by AusAID and Department of Eeducation, Employment and Workplace Relations' Endeavour Awards under a single recongnisable brand. More information on Australia Awards
Australia’s international development assistance in Pakistan aims to strengthening Pakistan’s human resource capacities by providing Masters-level scholarships and short course awards in areas aligned with Pakistan’s development priorities. These include:
under Australia Awards Scholarships
- Maternal, neonatal and child health services
- Basic education services
- Rural development and food security
- Governance
under Australia Pakistan Agriculture Scholarships
- Pro-poor market development in rural areas
- Rural economic and market reforms
- Irrigation and water resource management
The program also targets public sector reform and improved standards of governance in both public and private sectors.
The aim is to improve technical and leadership capacity of men and women working in federal and provincial governments, non-profit civil society, and the private sector.
Priority will be given to applicants from Balochistan, Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP).
Australia Awards are administered by AusAID and aligned with Australia’s development assistance in Pakistan, targeting human resource gaps in identified priority sectors. They aim to provide successful applicants with the skills and knowledge to drive change and influence economic and social development.
AusAID offers Australia Awards on the basis of merit, transparency and equal access. We strongly encourage applications from women, people with disability, and people from target areas.
For information on how to apply for Australia Awards, click here.
Australia Awards Scholarships Handbook
Please click here for a copy of the Scholarships Handbook 2013.
Australia Awards Pakistan office services
The Australia Awards Pakistan office provides the following support services to shortlisted applicants and participating organisations:
- Advice on appropriate fields of study, course selection and future career development through an Academic Advisor.
- Candidate selection and university placement processing: This includes short-listing, interviews, IELTS testing, study skills and placement at the Australian university.
- Visa processing: This involves working with staff from the Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC) and the relevant in-country Visa support provider and systems, making suitable arrangements to facilitate the efficient and timely processing of all Australia Awards visa applications.
- Pre-Departure preparation and in-Australia support: These include flight booking, pre-departure briefing session to ensure a smooth transition for each scholar to living and studying in Australia.
- Reintegration planning: This involves facilitating the development of a reintegration plan between the awardees and their employers. This is to assist returned scholars with the re-integration back into their workplaces.
- Supporting returned scholars: Facilitation is provided to returned scholars to become members of the Alumni Network.
- Monitoring and evaluation: This includes conducting regular tracer studies and monitoring and evaluation studies to inform stakeholders of the impact and consequences that scholars have contributed to their particular fields, organisations, institutions or groups. For this, all returned AusAID scholarship awardees are encouraged to register themselves on the Alumni Registration portal.