Australia's Victorian state government on Tuesday announced ten scholarships for Indian students to undertake their doctorate degrees at any of the state's nine universities from next year.
According to official statement, the scholars from India will be awarded Australian dollar 90,000 each to study their PhDs starting in 2012.
The prestigious new scholarships programme is one of a number of strategic engagement opportunities initiated by the Victorian Government to strengthen relations between Victoria and India.
State's top nine universities have agreed to provide a full tuition waiver and the ten new scholarships, providing Australian dollar 90,000 over the duration of doctoral studies for each PhD scholar and will support living costs and education-related travel.
It further said that Victoria has a multicultural community which values the presence of international students.
Its education institutions already have mutually beneficial, collaborative research links with Indian institutions and industry, and the new scholarship programme will continue to build on these links.
State's Minister for Innovation, Services and Small Business and Minister for Tourism and Major Events Louise Asher said, "the scholarships programme will contribute to global knowledge and help build a closer partnership between India and Australia.
"Victoria attracts quality students from around the world because of its strong infrastructure and top quality researchers and teachers.
{{/usCountry}}"Victoria attracts quality students from around the world because of its strong infrastructure and top quality researchers and teachers.
{{/usCountry}}"Because of the recognition that Victoria offers a premium international education experience and the generosity of the programme, we believe it will generate a huge amount of interest among Indian scholars," Asher said.