About the Award The Asia-Europe Meeting's (ASEM) DUO Fellowship Fund aims to promote student exchanges between European and Asian ASEM member countries. Under this fund, the DUO-Singapore Exchange Fellowship is awarded by the Singapore Government to Singapore and ASEAN students studying in the Nanyang Technological University (NTU), National University of Singapore (NUS) and Singapore Management University (SMU). The Award is also open to students from European ASEM countries (who come from universities with fee waiver arrangements with NTU, NUS and SMU) The Award, based on merit, is for a pair of exchanges between a university in Singapore and its respective partner university in Europe in any academic field. Each student will be awarded a maximum of 4,000 Euros for one semester of up to four months, which covers airfare, accommodation and living expenses. There is no bond imposed by the Singapore Government for the Award, which is open to both undergraduate and postgraduate students. The Prime Minister of the Republic of Singapore, Mr Goh Chok Tong made the following remarks on the importance of promoting Asia-Europe contacts: "The process of developing mutual understanding (between Asia and Europe) will be complex and slow. Unlike cooperation in the economic sphere, progress cannot be measured in statistics and balance sheets. To succeed, this process must overcome misperceptions, prejudices and biases, often unconscious to the person who has them. Understanding cannot be fostered only through Government-to-Government negotiations. Nor can it be done through business contacts alone. A broader section of civil society needs to be involved. Intellectuals, cultural leaders, youth and the media have important roles to play. The intangibility of results may make it difficult to obtain resources and financial commitments. Hence, our first challenge is to develop a broad consensus that both sides have much to gain in this journey of cultural rapprochement and rediscovery between Asia and Europe. The process of networking, constructive dialogue and consensus building between Asia and Europe will gradually bring our societies closer together. The psychological and cultural differences will diminish...Even among business people there is now a growing understanding that without deeper knowledge of each other's cultures, economic relationships will not be smooth. Business relationships can be damaged by cultural misunderstanding."