Hello, my name is Jason Fopp and I am a New Colombo scholar and I am really excited to
be studying here in Thailand.
Sawaddee krub.
Hi, my name is Simona Marty and I am studying here in Thailand as a New Colombo scholar.
Sawaddee ka.
The Australian Government's New Colombo Plan is a signature initiative supporting young
Australian students to learn about the Indo Pacific Region.
The New Colombo Plan aims to lift knowledge of the region in Australia and support Australia’s
ongoing regional engagement over the long term.
The Australian Government has committed $100 million over five years to the Plan.
With the pilot program launched in 2014, the New Colombo Plan, from 2015 expands across
the Indo Pacific including in Thailand.
Among more than 3,000 Australian students who will come to the Indo Pacific region under
this program in 2015, around 160 students will be studying and undertaking work placements
in Thailand.
Sawaddee krub.
My name is David Coleman and I am studying a Bachelor of Environmental Systems at the
University of Sydney, Australia.
I am really excited about coming over to Thailand to study at Mahidol University under the government’s
New Colombo Plan scheme.
Apart from the amazing cultural experience I am going to have, I am really looking forward
to learning about my area of study from a different international perspective.
A number of Thai universities and institutions will be hosting Australian students under
the New Colombo Plan this year including Chulalongkorn University, Chiang Mai University, Khon Kaen
University, King Mongkut University of Technology, Thonburi, Suranaree University of Technology
and Mahidol University.
Mahidol University College recently hosted a group of 12 Business and Economics students
from the University of Adelaide, Australia.
Professor Sansanee Chaiyaroj, Vice President for Research and International Relations,
Mahidol University: The New Colombo Plan students who are Australian natives will be able to
expose to many Thai cultures so they don’t learn only the Thai culture as a whole but
also learning about the professional cultures.
This will help them to open them up a little bit for the future ASEAN economic community
which will interact a lot with Australia and New Zealand.
Simona Marty: I love the people, the culture, the weather, how vibrant it is and how friendly
everyone is.
I think I can apply this experience to my commerce degree and my future just in the
fact that I would be able to understand better how their culture is and how our cultures
are similar or how it is different and how we can work with those differences and similarities
to make a stronger relationships between the two countries.
As part of the visit, the students learnt not only in the classroom but also from major
business operators in the country.
Based on the success of the 2014 pilot phase and the 2015 round, the New Colombo Plan will
be expanded in 2016 to offer more opportunities to more students to live, study and undertake
work placements in the region.