1. DUO-Singapore Exchange Fellowship Award Progress Report 14 November 2003 Annex D

2. DUO-Singapore Exchange Fellowship Award Officially established on 1 November 2001 US$ 1 million, to be disbursed over 5 years, set aside to fund education exchanges DUO-Singapore website (www.mfa.gov.sg/duo) set up to publicise and disseminate information Brochures and posters circulated through International Relations Offices of the 3 Singapore universities

3. DUO-Singapore focus on both undergraduate and postgraduate students Exchange of academic staff also considered A National Selection Committee administers selection process and disburses the financial award to successful candidates The Committee comprises officials from Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Education and representatives from the 3 Singapore universities DUO-Singapore Exchange Fellowship Award

4. A DUO-Singapore award is for a pair of students (i.e. one from Asia and one from Europe) The Singapore universities liase with their European partner universities to nominate suitable exchange candidates. The universities shortlist eligible candidates for the award and submit their recommendations to National Selection Committee for consideration. DUO-Singapore Exchange Fellowship Award

5. Candidates paired according to their area of interest and availability of places in the respective universities First batch of 18 pairs of students successfully implemented in Academic Year 2002/2003 Each student received 6,000 Euros DUO-Singapore Exchange Fellowship Award

6. DUO-Singapore Exchange Fellowship Award The award of 6,000 Euros was considered too generous by the Singapore universities Reduced to 1,000 Euros per month for a maximum of 4,000 Euros (one semester lasts 4 months) Reducing to 4,000 Euros allows Singapore to award 9 more pairs a year, benefiting more students Increase in awards to 27 pairs this year is timely as the DUO Programme has proven to be very popular

7. Selection for Academic Year 2003/2004 More than 300 applications were received for the Academic Year 2003/2004, a 50% increase in the number of applications from the previous DUO-Singapore Exchange Fellowship Award Applications for DUO-Singapore

8. DUO-Singapore Exchange Fellowship Award On 16 May 2003, Singapore's Ministry of Foreign Affairs endorsed the universities' recommendation of the 27 pairs of award winners at a National Selection Committee Meeting Universities from 9 European countries were represented among the 27 pairs of students.

9. The distribution of award winners among European countries over the last two years: DUO-Singapore Exchange Fellowship Award

10. DUO-Singapore Exchange Fellowship Award In the last two years, award winners from Singapore included three Malaysians and a Vietnamese DUO-Singapore open to ASEM ASEAN students studying in Singapore

11. DUO-Singapore Exchange Fellowship Award Programme has three more years to run, with fifth and final batch to be selected only in May 2006 DUO-Singapore has been very successful so far