The Endeavour Scholarships and Fellowships, formerly Endeavour Awards, is an internationally competitive, merit-based scholarship programme that forms part of the Australian Government's $1.4 billion Australian initiative. The programme brings leading researchers, executives and students to Australia to undertake short or long term study, research and professional development in a broad range of disciplines and enables Australians to do the same abroad. It aims at developing linkages between involved nations.
The Endeavour Awards were established as part of the 2003 International Education Package Engaging the World Through Education. Through international, merit-based competition, the Endeavour Awards bring leading researchers, professionals and students to Australia. The Australian Scholarships, a $1.4 billion Australian Government initiative, brings under the one umbrella the scholarship programmes managed by the federal government and AusAID. Over the five years from July 2006, Australian Scholarships have doubled the number of Australian Government funded scholarships available in the Asia-Pacific region.
Under Australian Scholarships, the Endeavour Awards have been greatly expanded to provide approximately 9,000 scholarships over five years, of which nearly half were for outgoing Australians. The scholarships are a mix of postgraduate, undergraduate, vocational and technical education courses, and research and professional development awards. They are open to all fields of study. The focus of the Awards is to strengthen education linkages between Australia and the region, and to showcase Australia’s excellence in education, science and training.
The Endeavour Awards are divided into four categories: