Recently, the New Zealand Government announced the 2006 recepients of the New Zealand International Doctoral Research Scholarships (NZIDRS). The 40 international post-graduate students hail from a variety of countries, including China, India, Finland, Canada, Turkey and United States, and will each attend one of eight participating New Zealand universities.

The scholarship provides funding for three years of full-time PhD study, valued at around NZ$40,000 per year. More specifically, the scholarship covers full tuition fees, NZ$18,000 per annum living allowance, up to NZ$600 per annum health insurance allowance, a NZ$2,000 travel allowance (across all 3 years), a NZ$800 book allowance (across all 3 years), and a NZ$500 one-off establishment allowance for first time visitors to New Zealand.

Application requirements include being international students, having an ‘A’ average in your studies so far, meeting requirements for entry into a post-grad programme at a NZ university, having corresponded with the relevant department of your chosen NZ university (to discuss availability of supervision), and holding sufficiently high scores in an accredited English language test (e.g. TOEFL, IELTS, CAE, CPE).

Although NZIDRS applications have ended for this year (17 July), there is really no harm preparing and doing research for next year - where the number of recepients is set to increase by 60 to around 100. For more information about the scholarship, visit the New Zealand International Doctoral Research Scholarships website.

[News via Scoop]