Australia Awards Alumni South Asia

Tashi Wangmo was one of the first engineering students from Bhutan to graduate from the University of Wollongong in New South Wales, via the AusAID scholarship program, in 1997, with a degree in Mechanical Engineering.

Prior to her time at UoW, Tashi studied at Sherubste College in Eastern Bhutan, the only college in the country then. During her days in Sherubtse, she was awarded the General Proficiency Medal (silver) on two consecutive years, 1991 and 1992.

Tashi is now a member of first ever National Council of Bhutan. She is one of the five eminent appointees of His Majesty the King to the 25-member council. The other 20 members were recently elected as part of Bhutan's move toward becoming a democratic constitutional monarchy.

She attributes much of her successes to the study program she underwent in Australia. She feels that the four and half years of study at UoW and her interaction with Australian society has provided her with the strong foundation on which she built up her life and career over the following years.

Upon completion of her studies at UOW, Tashi returned to the Civil Service in Bhutan in 1999. She started as an Assistant Engineer with the Civil Aviation Division. However, dissatisfied with her work, she immediately sought for a transfer to the newly established National Technical Training Authority (NTTA). Here, she was engaged with formulating plans and programs related to technical and vocational education and training, which were to be implemented locally.

In June 2003, the Ministry of Labour and Human Resources was created, which eventually subsumed the NTTA functionally. In 2004, Tashi was given the sole responsibility to start a Policy and Planning Division, where her responsibility expanded to formulating policies. She was able to overcome challenges due to the rigorous analytical academic training she had received in Australia.

Tashi earned the greatest national recognition for her hard work in 2008, when she was summoned by the King to appoint as a member of the National Council. She is now an integral part of the decision-making body under the country's first democratically elected government system. Tashi has vowed to selflessly devote herself to making a difference in the lives of the people of Bhutan. Tashi was also selected to participate in the South Asia Sub-regional Leadership Course in Colombo, Sri Lanka. She has received various other awards over the duration of her career, and she believes that none of this would have become possible had she not accepted the golden opportunities which the AusAID scholarship program had presented her with.