Australia Awards
For the 2025 academic year, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) will offer 1,551 long term Australia Awards scholarships to applicants from 55 partner countries. Across the global network, Australia invested around $270 million on Australia Awards programs in 2023-24.
The Australian Government's development policy Australian aid: promoting prosperity, reducing poverty, enhancing stability recognises that tertiary education is an important component of any investment in development. Find out more about Australia's development assistance for education.
Australia Awards are prestigious, transformational scholarships, fellowships and short courses offered to emerging leaders from developing countries for study, research and professional development in Australia and the region so they can return home and contribute to their nations’ development, prosperity and resilience.
The Australia Awards Global Strategic Framework: outlines DFAT’s investment in Australia Awards.
The Australia Awards Global Monitoring and Evaluation Framework helps to capture the overall Australia Awards performance story.
For more than 70 years, the Australian Government has supported the education of emerging leaders from developing countries, through the Colombo Plan in the 1950s to today's Australia Awards. More recently, the New Colombo Plan is supporting Australian undergraduates to live, work and study in the Indo-Pacific. This two-way educational exchange underpins Australia's bilateral relations with the region and the broader global community by building enduring institutional and people-to-people links.
Australia Awards contribute to the long-term objectives of promoting growth and stability in our region, as well as strengthening links between people and organisations to enhance mutual understanding and cooperation. They equip recipients with the skills and knowledge to drive change and contribute to the economic and social development of their own countries, in effect, building the human resource capacity of partner countries within mutually agreed development sectors.
All recipients of Australia Awards become part of the Australia Global Alumni, connecting them to Australia and to each other – building an engaged and influential global network of leaders and advocates, and establishing a network of ambassadors for Australia and its first-class education system.
Australia Awards Scholarships
Australia Awards Scholarships provide opportunities to citizens of participating countries, for full-time undergraduate or postgraduate study at Australian institutions.
Australia Awards Pacific Scholarships
Australia Awards Pacific Scholarships provide people from the Pacific the opportunity to study at selected education institutions in the Pacific region, to gain and build the knowledge to influence their home country's development.
Australia Awards Pacific Scholarships
Australia Awards Short Courses
Australia Awards Short Courses are targeted programs of intensive training for selected cohorts to address specific technical or soft skills gaps. They are formal study or training opportunities, generally of less than three months' duration, delivered by an approved Australian higher education provider or an Australian Registered Training Organisation in Australia and/or in partner countries. Australia Awards Short Courses are managed and administered by DFAT's overseas posts.
ACIAR Fellowships
The ACIAR (Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research) Fellowships Scheme provides the opportunity for partner country scientists involved in ACIAR-supported research projects to obtain postgraduate qualifications at Australian tertiary institutions, through the John Allwright and John Dillon Memorial fellowships.
Australia for ASEAN scholarships
Australia for ASEAN scholarships are prestigious international awards offered by the Australian Government to the next generation of leaders from ASEAN member states.