In recent years we have had a sharp increase in applications from Chin refugees in India. Their applications tell of forced labour, hardship and intimidation. Very many are Christian, sometimes with a teacher or pastor parent who has fallen foul of the authorities.

In Thailand, many of the students we support at undergraduate level come from the ethnic minority groups forced by military operations to flee their borderland villages to live precariously in a succession of refugee camps.

Another group are Buddhist monks, including some who are learning information technology alongside more traditional Buddhist subjects, and are keen to develop free educational and language programmes for their communities.

Prospect Burma aims to create a cadre of highly educated Burmese able to contribute their specialist skills to rebuilding civil society in Burma. All our students are committed to returning to Burma, and we are confident that many of Burma's future leaders, reformers and educators will come from the ranks of Prospect Burma's 'alumni'. Every donation has counted towards the increased number of scholarships this year, and the educational support you enable us to give Burmese students today means that there is hope for Burma's future transformation.