Leadership scholarship
aids Pacific Islanders

Pacific Islanders who are one day expected to assume leadership roles in their countries can apply for the 2004 United States-South Pacific Scholarship Program Competition through the East-West Center in Honolulu.

Individuals seeking bachelors' and masters' (limited to individuals who have already completed a three-year baccalaureate program) degrees from the South Pacific island nations of the Cook Islands, Fiji, Kiribati, Niue, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Samoa, Tonga, Tuvalu, and Vanuatu are eligible for the competitive, merit-based scholarship awards, for periods ranging from 24 to 48 months.

Since 1994, the East-West Center has received ten grants totaling $5,400,000 to administer the program. To date, 48 full scholarships have been provided.

All students reside on the East-West Center campus for a significant portion of the award period, during which time they join with graduate and undergraduate students from throughout Asia and the United States in a broad range of cooperative research, study, leadership training, and enrichment activities.

The scholarship recipients pursue studies at the University of Hawaii and at numerous other institutions of higher education in the continental United States.

Priority fields of study are environmental sciences, information technology and management, public administration, public policy, business administration, and journalism.

The application deadline is Feb. 1, 2005. For more information and application materials, see http://pidp.eastwestcenter.org/pidp/Awards/spsaward1.htm

The United States -- South Pacific Scholarship Program was established in 1994, at the request of the U.S. Congress, by the U.S. Department of State's Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs.