MBA Scholarships for International Students

The below opportunity is available only for one position. It is tough to get it but its worth applying for...

Source:www.business.uq.edu.au

For International Students

UQ Business School is delighted to announce four full fee-waiver scholarships for international students entering the full-time MBA in 2010.
Three of these scholarships are open to people applying from Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and Great Britain (including British Nationals Overseas). One full fee-waiver scholarship is available to students applying from India to study in 2010.
To win a scholarship you must meet all the standard entry criteria for acceptance into the program (GMAT, English language proficiency, and work experience) as well as:

• provide a personal statement in support of your application
• supply a written professional reference and character reference
• attend an interview in your country of residence or participate in a phone interview.

Terms and conditions apply.

How to apply

To apply for this scholarship you must have already submitted an application for entry into the MBA program in 2010 and received a UQ Student Number.
To apply for a scholarship, please forward a covering letter that clearly indicates your UQ Student Number as well as:

• a personal statement in support of your application

• a written professional reference and character reference

To: MBA Director
University of Queensland Business School University of Queensland St Lucia Queensland 4072 Australia
Shortlisted candidates will be required to participate in a face-to-face or phone interview.
Applications for the scholarships close on November 30, 2009.
Applications for admission to the MBA program should be submitted separately to your scholarship application either online or to the International Education Directorate.

Personal statement

Write no more than 1000 words (use 1.5 spacing and 12 point font).
You must supply a personal statement in support of the application. Your statement should:

• explain why you want to undertake the MBA at UQ Business School
• describe what value you think you will bring to your fellow MBA students
• outline your long-term career goals
• provide evidence of your leadership skills and community involvement.

References

To be considered, you must supply two references as follows:

• professional reference from a current or former supervisor or manager
• character reference.

Interview

If you are shortlisted, you will be invited to attend an interview (in your country of residence) or to participate in a phone interview.

Phone interview

If you are shortlisted and UQ Business School is unable arrange an in-country interview for you, we will ask you to participate in a phone interview.

Terms and conditions

Tuition-Fee Waiver Scholarship Eligibility

This tuition-fee waiver scholarship is for students from Europe and India applying to study the MBA at UQ on a full-time basis in 2009.

Tuition-Fee Waiver Scholarship Benefits

The tuition-fee waiver covers program tuition fees for the minimum number of units required to complete the program unless otherwise stated.
The tuition-fee waiver scholarship does NOT provide for

• Books/photocopying
• Tuition fees for repeating failed courses.

Duration of the Waiver

The maximum period of tenure for the tuition-fee waiver is for the duration of the program unless otherwise stated.

Termination of the Tuition-Fee Waiver Scholarship

The tuition-fee waiver scholarship will be terminated:

• If, after due inquiry, the UQ Business School concludes that the student has not fulfilled obligations of the program and/or the University, or is not making satisfactory progress.
• If the student has not resumed study after an approved maximum period of deferment of 1 year.
• If the students transfers to another program in UQ or withdraws from the University.

Please note: approval from the University is required if a student wishes to transfer or withdraw from the program. The University may require the student to repay the tuition-fee waiver.

• If the student fails to maintain full-time study.

Obligations of Students

• Students are expected to fulfil all requirements associated with their student visas.
• Student shall diligently and to the best of their ability apply themselves to the successful completion of their degree program.
• Students are required to conform to University regulations (including disciplinary provisions).
• Notification in writing to the Head of School is required if the student
  
  • wishes to defer, transfer or withdraw from the approved program
  • wishes to apply for an extension
  • is absent for any reason (other than recreation leave) for a period of 14 days or more from the place of study, except with prior approval of the Head of School.
• Student is required to pay the tuition costs of any failed course that must be repeated.

Indian student industry a study in shams and scams

Indian student industry a study in shams and scams
from the Australian
AUSTRALIA'S lust for high-dollar Indian students has led to a thriving black market in sham marriages, forged English language exams and bogus courses, and turned a once-respected international education sector into a recognised immigration racket.

While the federal government and industry work to repair the damage caused by a recent spate of attacks on Indian students in Australia, education agents say the violence has shone a light on a $14 billion industry riven with corruption.

An investigation into the overseas student industry has found thousands of Indians each year are being enrolled in dodgy courses at inflated prices and sold unrealistic dreams of cheap living and plentiful jobs.

The Australian has found operators across the Punjab, the main feeder community for Indian students in Australia, openly advertising "contract marriages" for aspiring immigrants to partners who have passed the mandatory English test for a student visa.

For an additional fee, agents will arrange bank documents and loans to satisfy Australian immigration law that demands students have the means to support themselves for the duration of their course.

Industry insiders say a flourishing market has also developed around the International English Language Test System, with students paying anything up to $20,000 for a good result.

Sonya Singh, a respected Indian education agent servicing the Australian market, says the myriad scams offered to foreign students each year have made "Australia a supermarket where people are buying stuff off the shelf".

"A good-quality Indian student notices a completely no-good student on the same flight as him to Australia and starts to wonder where he's going," she said. "Indians are so conscious of branding and Australia's reputation has suffered a lot because of the recruitment process.

"My own kids didn't want to study in Australia because they had a perception that poor-quality students go there and that if they told their friends they were going to Australia, they would be laughed at or thought of as lesser."

Corruption is now so rife among India-based education agents that Ms Singh says she has had to institute a new policy across all 24 of her agencies in India and Australia. "The first thing they must tell every student that walks through the door is 'We don't arrange funds and we don't arrange marriages'," shesaid.

"In Melbourne, we get lots of requests to arrange IELTS scores and work-experience permits (to satisfy new requirements that a student must have completed 900 hours of work before being granted permanent residency)."

Last week, police arrested three people in the Punjab city of Ludhiana for impersonation and forgery after they were found to be sitting the IELTS exam for aspiring foreign students.

A police spokesman told local media the scam was an "organised racket" and further arrests were expected.

Foreign students and a voracious Indian media have reacted angrily to the recent attacks, prompting government and industry to announce legislative reviews, investigations into student welfare and a 10-point plan to reform the sector.

A delegation of government, police and education officials will tomorrow) conclude an eight-city tour of India designed to assure agents, parents and an Indian government made nervous by intense domestic media coverage that everything possible is being done to ensure the safety of foreign students.

However, Ms Singh says the root cause of student tension is not the attacks but a deep disconnect between the life they were told would be theirs and the debt, loneliness and disenchantment they find is the reality.

Fifty-one foreign students committed suicide in Australia last year, a fair proportion of them Indians whose families had sold land and taken on huge loans in the hope their child's success would repay in multiples.

Robert Palmer, who runs the Overseas Students Support Network in Melbourne, says supplying students to Australia has become a gold mine for education agents.

While universities and TAFEs pay about 25 per cent commission on first semester fees, equivalent to about $1200-$1500 per student, private institutes will pay up to 30 per cent of the entire course fee, providing a clear financial incentive for agents to channel students their way, and even into courses in which they have no interest.

And there is no shortage of willing students. The Australian approached six young men on the streets of Jalandhar, three of whom said they aimed to be studying in Australia by the end of the year. Among them was Jaspreet Badhan, who said he hoped to get permanent residency in Australia after studying hotel management. He added that many of his friends were hoping to study overseas.

Harmeet Pental, South Asia director of the Australian university-owned IDP Education agency, believes the problem lies with Australia's immigration processes. "The US interviews every single student going there -- whether it's for two or five minutes -- and then makes a call on their fitness," he said. "For Australia, agents have a list of skill sets given by the high commission and of the documentation required. That's it. The process is driving the behaviour."

Ms Singh says the Australian government policy of giving priority visa consideration to students who train in fields listed on the Critical Skills Shortage register has turned "genuine" students away.

"Every time a new (critical skills) list comes out, education providers start introducing those courses."

But Colin Walters, the federal Education Department official leading the Australian delegation in India, says that should change following the Indian government's decision last week to regulate the agent industry.

"The sector has grown very rapidly and there are some criticisms about some providers, so we need a vigorous audit system so their outcomes can be carefully scrutinised," he said.