Three students from the PNG University of Technology have been awarded a scholarship to undergo an international exchange internship program in Japan starting this week.

This internship program is under the Japan Student Services Organization (JASSO) which provides scholarships to overseas students and implements international exchange programs. JASSO also improves admission procedures by administering the Examination for Japanese University Admission for International Students.

The students are Christopher Antipas and Adrianna Marpena who will study at the Nara Institute of Science and Technology in Japan for one month and Paul Paten who will be doing his internship online.

This one-month internship program begins on June 8^th and will end on July 15^th, 2023. All three students are currently doing their final year studying Computer Science at the University’s Mathematics and Computer Science department.

Lecturer Mr Sankwi Abuzo said this internship program is a first-of-its-kind program that the Nara Institute of Science and Technology encouraged students to apply for and the three students did and got accepted.

“This is an internship program where our students will be doing some practical and theoretical research work and at the same time show some work ethics,” Mr. Abuzo explained.

Mr Abuzo added that there is a tuition fee component for the internship program and other costs as well.

The JASSO scholarship will cover fees for two students – Christopher and Adrianna.

 “It’s a privilege to be a recipient of this internship program. There haven’t been enough opportunities for students in the Pacific region. We will be the first students to represent Papua New Guinean students in this particular internship program.” said Christopher.

“I am excited and cannot wait to start this internship program,” added Adrianna.

The University and the Maths and Computer Science department committed K25,000 for travel arrangements to and from Japan for the two students and tuition for the third student who is not supported by the scholarship and will not travel to Japan but will be doing his internship online.