A record nine students from QUT have received New Colombo Plan Scholarships to travel overseas in 2018 and further their career dreams.
The annual scholarships were announced this week (November 27) in Canberra and are funded by the Australian Government to strengthen Australia’s links with Indo-Pacific nations.
The government awarded 120 scholarships nationally to university students to travel, work and study abroad for a semester in 2018.
Caitlin Clarke is one of the nine NCP scholarship recipients from QUT and is off to Singapore to study its green buildings.
Caitlin, 20, has just finished her second year of a Bachelor of Property Economics and will spend semester two next year at the National University of Singapore.
She said it would be valuable experience toward her goal of becoming a leader in sustainable construction management.
“I would ultimately love to be a commercial development manager with a multinational company like Lendlease, which would provide amazing opportunities to work around Australia and internationally,” she said.
“I’m passionate about sustainability and want to strive for high Green Star and NABERs ratings in commercial projects. As a development manager, I want to further innovation and sustainability in the construction industry.
“Singapore is a leader in construction innovation – which is one of the reasons I’ve chosen it as my scholarship destination.
“The National University of Singapore as partnered with the Building and Construction Authority to develop a net zero energy building (video below), which incorporates active and passive systems to increase energy efficiency, and aims to generate enough solar power to power itself. This is the type of technology I’m hoping to learn more about and bring back to Brisbane and Queensland.”
Caitlin finished school in 2014 and studied a year of business at QUT, where a stint of work experience in property management prompted her to switch to property economics, majoring in urban development construction.
She’s currently combining her studies with interning at Paladin Projects on a retirement village construction project.
QUT’s nine New Colombo Plan Scholars and their destinations are:
- Alexandra Alder (Bachelor of Behavioural Science/Bachelor of Justice), Singapore
- Caitlin Clarke (Bachelor of Property Economics), Singapore
- Melanie Gock (Bachelor of Business), Hong Kong
- Liam Greinke (Bachelor of Business/Bachelor of Laws), Thailand
- Michael Reynolds (Bachelor of Science/Bachelor of Mathematics), Singapore
- Madura Senadeera (Bachelor of Engineering/Bachelor of IT), Singapore
- Sarah Sheppard (Bachelor of Business/Bachelor of Laws), Korea
- Krishore Subramaniam (Bachelor of Engineering), Taiwan
- Tess van Geelen (Bachelor of Laws), China
QUT Media contacts:
- Mechelle McMahon, media@qut.edu.au
- After hours: Rose Trapnell, 0407 585 901 or media@qut.edu.au