Congratulations to two La Trobe students who have secured New Colombo Plan (NCP) scholarships for 2025.
Mila Olsen (Bachelor of Laws (Honours)/Bachelor of Global Studies) and Ruby Hastwell Dargaville (Bachelor of Biological Science), were named as NCP scholarship recipients by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, on Monday 16 December.
The NCP Scholarship is a grant program run by the Australian Government which aims to raise knowledge of the Indo-Pacific by funding Australian undergraduate students to undertake study, training and internships in their choice of 40 different countries from the region.
This year’s announcement marks 10-years since the first NCP Scholarship. During that time, La Trobe has successfully supported 30 scholars onto the program, providing students with unique opportunities to travel a new country, develop core employability skills, build global networks and gain international study and work experience.
About this year’s NCP Scholars
Both NCP Scholars are projected to embark on their travels in Semester 2 of 2025, where they will complete their study and internship by early 2026.
Mila Olsen (Bachelor of Laws (Honours)/Bachelor of Global Studies)
Mila will travel to Japan where she intends to study and undertake an internship that will develop her language skills and provide insights to how Japan’s culture, history and future trajectory contributes to the country’s approach to social cohesion.
With a keen interest on Australia-Japan relations, honed by her participation in the Mitsui Educational Foundation’s study tour of Japan, Mila hopes to contribute to academic literature while analysing Japan’s infrastructure to identify potential improvements to Australia’s public sector.
Mila is also a recipient of La Trobe’s Vice Chancellor’s Excellence Scholarship (Aspire), which awards students for academic excellence. She is passionate about community led initiatives and has volunteered at several legal aid organisations including the Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service and the Law and Advocacy for Women.
Ruby Hastwell Dargaville (Bachelor of Biological Science)
Ruby plans to study varied language and ecology courses as well as enrolling on an internship which will focus on habitat restoration, biodiversity and conservation in Malaysia.
In 2023, Ruby founded the La Trobe University Mycology Society, supporting 200 members to learn more about fungi. Working with the Nangak Tamboree Wildlife Sanctuary, she led a project to map the identity profiles of fungal life in the area – aiming to detect new species and better understand their varied roles in the environment.
For the past two years, Ruby has been an active volunteer for several local ecological organisations, gaining practical experience at the Nangak Tamboree Wildlife Sanctuary, MYCOmmunity, Royal Botanical Gardens Victoria, and the Applied and Environmental Microbiology Group at La Trobe University.
As an NCP Scholar, Ruby intends to develop research collaborations between Australian-Malaysian institutions which promote community engagement in ecological systems and building environmental resilience in both countries.
How to apply to become a NCP Scholar
Applications for the NCP Scholarship 2026 will open in March 2025 and La Trobe students will be able to submit an expression of interest via the NCP Scholarship page when it is open.
NCP is just one of the overseas opportunities available – La Trobe has over 120 international exchange partners across schemes such as Semester Exchanges, overseas short programs with several grant and scholarship options available.
For more information on the NCP Scholarship, or La Trobe’s other international study opportunities, see studying overseas.