Annex D DUO-Singapore Exchange Fellowship Award Progress Report

Annex D DUO-Singapore Exchange Fellowship Award Progress Report 14 November 2003

DUO-Singapore Exchange Fellowship Award • Officially established on 1 November 2001 • US$ 1 million, to be disbursed over 5 years, set aside to fund education exchanges • DUO-Singapore website (www. mfa. gov. sg/duo) set up to publicise and disseminate information • Brochures and posters circulated through International Relations Offices of the 3 Singapore universities

DUO-Singapore Exchange Fellowship Award • DUO-Singapore focus on both undergraduate and postgraduate students • Exchange of academic staff also considered • A National Selection Committee administers selection process and disburses the financial award to successful candidates • The Committee comprises officials from Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Education and representatives from the 3 Singapore universities

DUO-Singapore Exchange Fellowship Award • A DUO-Singapore award is for a pair of students (i. e. one from Asia and one from Europe) • The Singapore universities liase with their European partner universities to nominate suitable exchange candidates. • The universities shortlist eligible candidates for the award and submit their recommendations to National Selection Committee for consideration.

DUO-Singapore Exchange Fellowship Award • Candidates paired according to their area of interest and availability of places in the respective universities • First batch of 18 pairs of students successfully implemented in Academic Year 2002/2003 • Each student received 6, 000 Euros

DUO-Singapore Exchange Fellowship Award • The award of 6, 000 Euros was considered too generous by the Singapore universities • Reduced to 1, 000 Euros per month for a maximum of 4, 000 Euros (one semester lasts 4 months) • Reducing to 4, 000 Euros allows Singapore to award 9 more pairs a year, benefiting more students • Increase in awards to 27 pairs this year is timely as the DUO Programme has proven to be very popular

DUO-Singapore Exchange Fellowship Award Selection for Academic Year 2003/2004 • More than 300 applications were received for the Academic Year 2003/2004, a 50% increase in the number of applications from the previous Applications for DUO-Singapore

DUO-Singapore Exchange Fellowship Award • On 16 May 2003, Singapore's Ministry of Foreign Affairs endorsed the universities' recommendation of the 27 pairs of award winners at a National Selection Committee Meeting • Universities from 9 European countries were represented among the 27 pairs of students.

DUO-Singapore Exchange Fellowship Award • The distribution of award winners among European countries over the last two years:

DUO-Singapore Exchange Fellowship Award • In the last two years, award winners from Singapore included three Malaysians and a Vietnamese • DUO-Singapore open to ASEM ASEAN students studying in Singapore

DUO-Singapore Exchange Fellowship Award • Programme has three more years to run, with fifth and final batch to be selected only in May 2006 • DUO-Singapore has been very successful so far