Carnegie Mellon Australia Woos with full Scholarships to Deserving Students

By: Jennifer Kumar

Full scholarships ranging from US$25,000 up to US$70,000 awarded to deserving students to study abroad at the prestigious Carnegie Mellon University’s Australia campus!?

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This was how I understood a press release published by The Hindu Newspaper, Education Plus Visakhapatnam recently. The punctuation marks at the end of that statement demonstrates my surprise at such an opportunity, wondering if it truly existed.

Upon trying to visit the website the press article suggested for more information, I was taken to an error page, realizing the URL had been misspelled by the Hindu newspaper folks. I did a bit of scouring on the net and found other sites under the Carnegie Mellon umbrella and was bombarded by a wealth of information on scholarships.

Firstly, I was a bit shocked by the requirements of the scholarships I found. These would be given to deserving international students, but a stipulation to utilize the scholarship would be to return to their home countries for at least two years upon completion of the degree to aid in the development of their country. When I read that I became more interested as I was curious citizens of what countries would be accepted, and would citizens from India qualify for such a scholarship? After reading the list of countries, and realizing India was not present, I had two further doubts. The first was if I was reading detail for the same scholarship The Hindu was advertising and the second if this was the right one, then should it even be advertised in The Hindu (let alone the fact the URL was mistyped).

On those doubts, I sent an e-mail to a staff member of the scholarship programs and received a wealth of information and some clarifications of doubts.

(Update: Courses at Carnegie University is an updated article written in the Hindu August 19, 2008 based on my communication with Ms. Doyle.)

The following is quoted by a most helpful Marketing Manager at Carnegie Mellon, Ms. Doyle:

Carnegie Mellon University-AusAID Scholarship is country specific (and applicants from India are not eligible). Successful applicants for this scholarship scheme sign a contract stating that they must return to their home country for a minimum of 2 years in order to contribute to development of their country. Should they not return to their home country the applicant would have to re-pay the scholarship cost. We offer a total of four different scholarships to assist our students in the Masters of Science programs in either Information Technology or Public Policy and Management. For more information on each of these scholarships please click here.

The scholarship requiring students to return to their country to help in development is a creative solution to the problem of brain drain and also does encourage students to go back and help their communities without the shackles of paying back any student loans. I wonder what is a typical student profile however.

It being true that many international students are already quite industrious by their sheer nature and drive to study abroad, I am sure this program by it’s very nature recruits the best and brightest young professionals- meaning many like alumnus Bharati Das, already have had success in their chosen careers in their home country and are looking to this program for professional development and promotion rather than in initiating a fresh career. I do know in US many such programs at top notch schools are populated by students who have worked for several or many more years in the field, which gives them a leg up on entrance into the program.

If you have participated in these programs and want to share your experience you are welcome to do so by leaving your story in the comments section below.

Some quick facts about Carnegie Mellon’s campus in Adelaide, Australia:

· Carnegie Mellon University – is Australia’s first overseas university. It opened in Adelaide in May 2006 – the H. John Heinz III School of Public Policy and Management (Heinz-Au) in Victoria Square.

· Currently offering internationally recognised degrees – the Master of Science in Public Policy and Management (MSPPM); Master of Science in Information Technology (MSIT).

· Two post-graduate Carnegie Mellon degree programs are currently offered at the Heinz School Australia campus, the Master of Science in Public Policy and Management (MSPPM) and the Master of Science in Information Technology (MSIT).

· There are currently 100 students – representing a steady rise since 2006. The objective is to reach 200 students a year.

· International students currently comprise 50% of the total student body.

· International education is South Australia’s largest service export earner, bringing in $648 million in 2007 and supporting 3,000 jobs.

· Heinz-Au has been accredited for United Arab Emirates university scholarships, allowing fully funded post-graduate students from the UAE to apply for admission.

· Telstra scholarships: IT specialists keen to enhance their career prospects are assisted to study at Heinz-Au via the Telstra scholarship, with the first student commencing in January 2008.

· The value of the Telstra Scholarship is AUD $90,000.

Links: Press Release, Telstra Scholarship Carnegie Mellon News & Events Heinz Australia Newsletter Bharati Das – CMU Australia Alumni Carnegie Mellon Heinz School Australia Main Website Destination Down Under - Australia Favorite Destination of Indian Students