Group of people graduating

About Australia Awards PNG

Australia Awards PNG

Australia Awards Papua New Guinea (AAPNG) are designed to promote knowledge and leadership, and enduring ties between Australia and PNG. The scholarships aim to build a qualified workforce, fill critical human resource gaps, and support good leadership.

Every year, both the Governments of Australia and Papua New Guinea agree on priority sectors that will target key development areas. In PNG these include: agriculture, education, governance, health, law and justice, transport and infrastructure.

Applicants are assessed on their professional and personal qualities, academic competence and, most importantly, their potential to impact on development challenges in PNG.

Australia Awards Scholarships

Australia Awards Scholarships are prestigious international awards offered by the Australian Government to the next generation of global leaders. Through study and research, awardees develop the skills and knowledge to drive change and help build enduring people-to-people links with Australia. Visit the global Australia Awards site. 

Equal Opportunity

Australia Awards are merit-based scholarships. We are committed to ensuring an equal representation of women and men and that people with disability and people living and working in rural areas are provided fair access to pursuing further studies under an Australia Award. For more information on AAPNG’s approach to inclusion and equal opportunity, see here

Applications are strongly encouraged from women, people with disability and those from the provinces.

Find out about AAPNG study options

Australia Awards Scholarships

Scholarships for long-term study in Australia, in in priority areas agreed between PNG and Australia.

In-PNG Scholarships

Scholarships for study in PNG to fill workforce skills gaps in nursing, midwifery, education and maritime studies.

Short Course Awards

Short Course Awards build targeted skills like management, leadership, research and public policy, with training in PNG and Australia.

Australia Awards PNG Success Stories

Midwife reaches out to communities

Midwife reaches out to communities

Penny Kipalya’s desire to become a midwife awakened in the labour ward at Enga Catholic Health Service where she was working as a General Nurse. “I see mothers coming to the hospital to give birth with complications that may have been prevented with earlier and better treatment. I wanted to become a midwife so I could have the knowledge to help them,” she says.

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Nurses saving lives

Nurses saving lives

Mecklyn, from Kompiam District in Enga Province, is an awardee of the Australia Awards PNG Scholarship. She obtained a Diploma in General Nursing through this scholarship program in 2021 and is now serving at the Kompiam District Hospital.

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Passion of a male midwife

Passion of a male midwife

Even though midwifery is a female-dominated profession, Clinton Danny Saupere decided to become a midwife after seeing his sister-in-law’s untimely death following childbirth.
Clinton is an awardee of the Australia Awards PNG Scholarship and a native of Hauna Village in the East Sepik Province’s Ambunti Drekikier District.

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