The Singapore Government today awarded 60 university scholarships to some of ASEAN’s most promising students under the Singapore Scholarship Programme.

In announcing the scholarships, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs and Trade and Industry, Mr Raymond Lim, said, "The Singapore scholarship awards are designed to help develop future leaders in the social, business and public sectors in the ASEAN region."

For the first time, the Singapore Management University (SMU) will have an intake of students under the scholarship programme. Nanyang Technological University (NTU) and National University of Singapore (NUS) have been part of the programme since its inception in 1998.

Under this Singapore Scholarship Programme, the Singapore scholars will gain an education that will help them play a part in the development of their countries when they return home.

The scholars from Vietnam, for example, have expressed a deep desire to apply the knowledge they will acquire for Vietnam’s economic development. They identified information technology as a key pillar of the country’s economy in the coming years and many have opted to pursue this course in Singapore. Said scholar Nguyen Nam Huan, who will be pursuing a Bachelor of Computer Engineering (School of Computing) at the NUS: "In Vietnam, IT is one of the fields which the Government has placed a high priority. While in Singapore, I hope to learn the latest technology and use them to contribute to the development of Vietnamese IT or hopefully, to the whole IT progress of the world."

Karinya Makaew from Thailand, who will be studying computer engineering at the NTU said, "The scholarship will enable me to contribute to the field of computer engineering, which is undeniably one of the most important areas of knowledge vital to the Southeast Asian economy at large."

The 60 scholars are from Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam.

To date, the scholarship has brought more than 230 ASEAN students to Singapore.

The Singapore Scholarship is a Government-to-Government scheme. Managed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the scholarship is part of the Singapore Cooperation Programme, which provides technical assistance to developing countries.