Two leading education providers in the Northern Territory are helping their nearest international neighbour to build its health capacity.
Charles Darwin University and the Menzies School of Health Research will award two prestigious PhD scholarships to assist East Timor to build its health services.
The Vice-Chancellor of CDU, Professor Barney Glover, and Director of Menzies Professor Jonathan Carapetis announced the scholarships during their current visit to the young nation as part of an NT delegation to strengthen community, education and business ties.
Speaking from the capital Dili, Professor Glover said the CDU and Menzies PhD Health Scholarships for East Timor would provide for two East Timorese to complete a PhD in health at the Menzies School of Health Research.
Both scholarships would have tuition fees waived and provide a stipend of $20,000 a year for three and a half years.
“These scholarships will help East Timor in building its health capacity,” Professor Glover said.
In welcoming the initiative, Northern Territory Chief Minister Paul Henderson said: “As well as building on the business and cultural ties between East Timor and the Northern Territory, the Ministerial delegation is also focusing on co-operation in the education sector.
“These PhDs are a great example of that co-operative approach and will complement other collaborations between our jurisdictions.”
Professor Carapetis said the NT, Menzies and East Timor had a long and vigorous relationship.
The Ministers for Health in both the NT and East Timor were PhD graduates of Menzies, he said.
All training and research during the PhDs would take place through Menzies.
Professor Glover said CDU and Menzies were now working with the East Timor Government to establish the process for selecting the recipients.
The PhD candidates were expected to take up the scholarships toward the end of 2009 or early in 2010.