Three UC students win scholarships to study in China

Three University of Canterbury (UC) students have received all-expenses paid scholarships to study in China for a year.

They are Jack Chaney and Lucy McCarthy of Christchurch and Annelise Posthuma of Nelson.

UC’s Chinese language lecturer Dr Fengyuan Ji said all tuition fees, living expenses, food, accommodation and travel would be paid for as part of the scholarship.

Chaney will study at Si Chuan University in Chengdu and McCarthy will go to Dalian University in the Liaoning province. Posthuma, who also won the top speech prize, had to decline the scholarship offer for personal reasons.

Six scholarships were this year offered to Chinese language tertiary students all over New Zealand by the Confucius Institute in Auckland, on behalf of the Chinese government. Three of the scholarships were won by UC students – Chaney, McCarthy and Posthuma.

UC student Ginette Mathis of Queenstown won the sixth New Zealand Chinese essay competition for the Ambassador Trophy.

Another UC student Mitchell Burns of Nelson has earned a sixth month study in China scholarship by winning a speech competition. He also went on to represent New Zealand in China to compete in the finals. Burns will study at Qing Dao University in Shandong.

Finally, UC student Timothy Pennington of Christchurch won the Huayu scholarship which includes one year fully paid study at the National Normal University in Taiwan.