Five University of Otago students are being given government scholarships to further develop links with Asia.

The students are among 55 scholarship recipients nationwide.

They'll be heading to mainland China, Hong Kong and Singapore.

The university has also received funding to send a dozen students to a Chinese summer school.

They'll spend nine weeks at the Shanghai University of International Business and Economics.

The Prime Minister's Scholarships for Asia programme started in 2013.

It aims to build New Zealand's involvement in Asia.