The Department of National Human Resources Development are currently seeking expressions of interest for the 2011-2012 Cook Islands Government Scholarship as well as the Overseas Student Assistance Fund. Ngarangi Tangaroa of the Tertiary Awards Program commented, “Really the purpose of both schemes is for people who are currently studying in New Zealand at tertiary institutes - to assist them with completing their awards.” She added that to be eligible for other tertiary funding schemes, such as those sponsored by NZ Aid and Aus Aid, the student often needs to be starting their course program from the very beginning. “We’ve had some people in the past [who] have gone off on their own, sought funding privately, [who] then find it quite difficult later on in their second or third year. They come back and ask us for assistance. But because we didn’t have any schemes we thought, ‘ok, we’ll put something together.’” Both scholarships are fully funded by the Cook Islands government.
The Cook Islands Government Scholarship is for those who have already completed a year or so of their studies and have a maximum of two years to complete the program. Applicants need a grade point average of B or B+ however Tangaroa acknowledged that they are flexible to give those who may not quite meet the academic requirements options to reach the minimum requirements. The scholarship funds approximately five people, but how much each individual recipient is being funded determines if funds are leftover to fund more than five.
The Overseas Student Assistance Fund assists Cook Island students studying overseas with their tuition fees, on a reimbursement basis. The applicants need to produce evidence of subjects or units that have been passed, as well as recorded payment of tuition fees to the respective tertiary institute. Furthermore the applicants are invited to keep reapplying for every year of their study. In the past they have awarded anywhere from 15 to 30 reimbursements per year. The department has a weighted point-based set of criteria to assess the applications for all funding schemes and Tangaroa expressed that this was in order to be completely transparent in their assessments.
Tangaroa emphasised the importance of the condition that if the student accepts the award they are required to come back and work in the Cook Islands after they complete their studies. “The programs that we administer are development programs for the Cook Islands – not for New Zealand, the UK or Australia!” Though Tangaroa acknowledged that NHRD do keep reminding students of the condition, their hope is that students have strong desire to come back anyway. She commented that the department stay in communication with the students throughout their study period by email, as well as when the students come home for holidays.
The scheme has been running since 2006 and according to Tangaroa has been successful. She hinted that there was a possibility the Cook Islands government funded scholarship may look at offering a ‘reverse scholarship’ scheme in the future, similar to what the NZ Aid program already offers. A reverse scholarship means that for every year a graduate comes back and works in the Cook Islands they get a certain percentage of their student loan paid off. “That’s another way of trying to get them to come back. That’s the whole idea - to get our people trained and then come back!” All scholarships will be announced in February.
-Ngariki Ngatae

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