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Sydney, 20 October 2008 — MasterCard and U21Global today announced the recipients of the 2008 MasterCard-U21Global scholarship, an annual program awarded to women in Travel and Tourism.

The program, which calls on organisations to nominate outstanding women in the industry, offers a global platform for career advancement in the management and marketing of Travel and Tourism, whilst meeting the sectors’ demand for better trained professionals.

Three outstanding Australian women have been chosen out of a strong selection of applicants for the joint scholarship program: Robyn Keenan, Skills Link Manager with Queensland Tourism Industry Council (from Victoria Point, QLD), Kathryn Thwaites, Airport Operations Manager with Air New Zealand (from Sydney, NSW) and Nicole Blake, Corporate Consultant with Spencer Travel (from Sydney, NSW).

Robyn, Kathyrn and Nicole join another 17 winners of the MasterCard-U21Global sponsored scholarship from across the Asia-Pacific, Middle East & Africa region. They will pursue the Postgraduate Diploma of Business Administration from U21Global, the world’s premier online Graduate School.

“MasterCard’s important role as facilitator of travel and its commitment to domestic and international travel is the motivation behind our involvement in the scholarship program,” said Eddie Grobler, executive vice president, Australasia MasterCard Worldwide, “and we’d like to congratulate Robyn, Kathryn and Nicole on winning this year.”

“MasterCard understands the value of travel and tourism to the entire Australian economy and wants to ensure that those working in the industry are given the best possible support and training needed to provide an outstanding service,” said Grobler.

“It is pleasing that more than 20% of the applicants came from Australia and New Zealand. We are proud to be offering such a wonderful opportunity for women to enhance their careers in one of the fastest growing sectors of our economy,” he added. Robyn Keenan, 23, from Victoria Point, Queensland, will be using the program to develop and strengthen her skills in the industry.

“The MasterCard-U21Global Scholarship program will enable me to take the best of global management and marketing practices and apply them locally at the Queensland Tourism Industry Council,” she says.

“Many of our 2008 recipients are women in mid-level management positions who have been in the industry for over a decade. This group would significantly benefit from additional education and through gaining appropriate qualifications will improve their management capabilities and career prospects. The Postgraduate Diploma of Business Administration from U21Global will help them achieve this objective,” said Dr Helen Lange, Dean, Business Management Programmes, U21Global.

“MasterCard’s support of U21Global through its commitment to travel and tourism has reinforced our institution as one of the world’s premier online graduate school,” Dr Lange added. “The scholarships are awarded to women who have shown exemplary dedication and achievements in the travel and tourism sector, and we believe our premium curriculum will help Robyn, Kathryn and Nicole keep abreast of industry trends.”

Vanessa Weigall was a recipient of the 2006 MasterCard-U21Global Scholarship and hasn’t looked back since then.

“The MasterCard-U21Global Scholarship program has provided me with invaluable skills that have given me the edge required to take my career to the next step. From eBusiness to sustainability and service delivery, the program covers highly relevant aspects of the tourism and travel industries that I can apply every day.”

“The e-learning platform also meant that I could be more flexible with my work/life balance when studying, which definitely made life easier!”

Recipients of the scholarship can enjoy the benefit of studying online to better manage their work and educational commitments. Those interested in more information on U21Global can log on to www.u21global.edu.sg

The program comprises 20 scholarships for the U21Global Postgraduate Diploma of Business Administration and is intended to empower working women professionals in the industry to stay ahead of industry trends and realize their full potential. This is the third consecutive year that MasterCard and U21Global are collaborating to offer this scholarship program, which is open to women professionals in the travel and tourism industry across Asia-Pacific, Middle East and Africa. This year, recipients come from a diverse range of markets, including Australia, Cambodia, China, Hong Kong, India, New Zealand, Philippines, UAE, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

The program focuses on diverse aspects of tourism management and helps build a broad understanding of management principles and practices as they apply in the tourism and travel industries. The curriculum has been developed by Christel DeHaan Tourism and Travel Research Institute, a part of Nottingham University Business School and U21Global, a leader in offering quality graduate online education to working executives and professionals.

Established in 2001, U21Global is the world's premier online Graduate School that offers globally recognised graduate programmes. The graduate school is backed by an international network of leading research-intensive universities in 11 countries. U21Global combines the traditional quality of its founders with innovative modes of delivery on the Internet, providing students with substantial learning advantages, while balancing work, travel and family life.

U21Global has successfully enrolled students from 60 countries around the world including those from Asia, Australia, Africa, Europe and the Americas. The graduate programmes draw upon the best practices in online learning and pedagogy and have been approved by U21pedagogica, an independent quality assurance body which ensures that the curriculum meets the rigorous academic standards of all the affiliated universities. For more information on U21Global, please visit our campus at www.u21global.edu.sg

U21Global's affiliated universities include: North America: Tecnológico de Monterrey, University of Virginia; Europe: Lund University; University College Dublin, University of Birmingham, University of Edinburgh, University of Glasgow, University of Nottingham; Asia: Fudan University, Korea University, National University of Singapore, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, University of Delhi, University of Hong Kong, Waseda University; Australia: University of Melbourne, University of Queensland.

MasterCard Worldwide advances global commerce by providing a critical economic link among financial institutions, businesses, cardholders and merchants worldwide. As a franchisor, processor and advisor, MasterCard develops and markets payment solutions, processes over 18 billion transactions each year, and provides industry-leading analysis and consulting services to financial institution customers and merchants. Through its family of brands, including MasterCard^®, Maestro^® and Cirrus^®, MasterCard serves consumers and businesses in more than 210 countries and territories.