The Educational Relationship between Bhutan and Australia

Abstract

Education has been the central pillar of friendship and cooperation between Australia and Bhutan for more than five decades. Formal diplomatic relations between the two countries started in September 2002 and since then, areas of collaboration have diversified to agriculture, trade, water, energy and connectivity as well as support for Non-Government Organisations and volunteer programs. Enduringly, education remains the core basis of the friendship and cooperation between the two countries since the first cohort of five Bhutanese students were admitted at Hale School in Western Australia under the Colombo Plan in 1969. This article provides a comprehensive foregrounding of the bilateral areas of educational cooperation, enduring and productive partnerships between the two countries. This historical account of the relationship in education between the two countries of Bhutan and Australia is based on a range of information sources gathered from government websites, unpublished reports from universities, press releases, and peer reviewed book chapters and journal articles. The culmination of this report identifies a need for an empirical investigation of the personal and professional outcomes of this relationship.