NEWS FOR WOMEN Scholarship Offered To Asian Woman Graduate

Press, Volume XCIV, Issue 28130, 20 November 1956, Page 2

NEWS FOR WOMEN Scholarship Offered To Asian Woman Graduate

A . scholarship va.lued at £6OO has been offered by the'New Zealand Federation of University Women to bring a South-east Asian woman graduate to New Zealand for a year’s study.

A condition of the scholarship is that the successful fellow must return to her own country and use the knowledge she has gained in New Zealand for the benefit of her own people.

No fewer than 20 applications have been received from women in Ceylon. India. Pakistan, Indonesia, the Philippines. Vietnam and Thailand. All showed a keen interest in the scholarship and an enthusiasm for furthering their studies in New Zealand, said the Dominion president of the federation (Mrs W. Grant) yesterday.

The federation gave a great deal of thought to the planning of the advertisement. It wanted to make the advertisement sufficiently attractive to catch the eye of women casually glancing at the notice board of the South-east Asian universities, to which it was sent.

“The advertising of the scholarship in the countries where we wanted to attract applicants, the drawing up of the application form and its dispatch made a formidable task, as so many points had to be considered,’’ said Mrs Grant. It was essential that the successful graduate should have a sufficient knowledge of English to read, write and speak the language fluently. To assure that application forms reached their destination, each packet was registered. Married Applicants About half the applicants are married- women. Several have two or three children, ranging in ages from

three to 13. The women themselves are in the 25-40 age group, and all hold degrees in arts, science or law. “Testimonials of the . applicants, their occupations and choice of subjects for study in New Zealand are most interesting." said Mrs Grant. ‘•Several are teachers, one is a professor; some lecture in science or arts. The women include journalists, broadcasters, research students and social welfare workers."

Courses chosen for study by the applicants cover a wide variety of interests and in some cases the applicants mentioned the university college they wished to attend. One named the professor under whom she wanted to study.

Interested in Seaweeds A Philippine graduate said she wanted to examine New Zealand seaweeds with a view to finding out their food value. A medico-social worker from India said she would like to study family planning and pre-natal and child care. Another said she wished to specialise in the teaching of deaf, blind and retardate children. Several applicants were interested in library work, including the country library and school library services. Other subjects mentioned were public health, housing, school publications. educational broadcasts, political science, law. rural sociology and research in chemistry and zoology.

“The Dominion executive of the New Zealand Federation of University Women is faced with a difficult task in deciding the award of this fellowship because the qualifications of the applicants appear to be of such a hign standard and the needs of their countries are so great," said Mrs Grant.