Accra, Oct. 29, GNA - The Australian Government, in collaboration with the Australia Development Scholarship (ADS), has awarded scholarships to 11 Ghanaian professionals to study at one of the 42 Universities in that country.

Mr Williams Billy Williams, Australia High Commissioner in Ghana, in a pre-departure briefing for the students, said the ADS provided opportunities for people from 25 African countries to undertake Post-Graduate Diploma or Master's Degree programmes in Australia. "The Master's level qualification attained by these students would make a strong contribution to achieve the Millennium Development Goals in their respective countries," he added.

The Ghanaians will join 239 other Africans selected for the 2011 intake. Students from Liberia, Sierra Leone, Burkina Faso and The Gambia, who are also beneficiaries of the scholarship programme, were present at the ceremony.

Mr Williams said the main priority areas of study included Public Policy, Agriculture/Food Security, Natural Resource Management, Health and Water and Sanitation.

He said scholarships had always been a strong part of Australia's development cooperation programme and engagement in Africa providing about 3,600 scholarships to African students since 1960. Mr Williams also said by 2013, the Australian government was committed to provide 1,000 additional scholarships to Africa each year aimed to foster and sustain friendship and cooperation between Australia and developing countries.

"Support for this project was part of Australia's commitment to broaden and deepen relationship with Africa, including trade and investment, diplomacy and development assistance." Mr Williams said the students were required to return to their respective countries after the two-year study to contribute to the development of human capacity.

Dr Joe Annan, Deputy Minister for Education, thanked the Australian Government for the initiative and said this would help build capacity with partners from developing countries.

He urged the students to make good use of the opportunity and learn hard to become good ambassadors for their countries and contribute to national development.

Franklin Oppong-Obiri, a beneficiary of the award, said the programme would give him the opportunity to undertake further studies to acquire relevant knowledge in Natural Resource Management and contribute his quota to the development of the country.