Asian International School (AIS) in collaboration with Edlocate(Pvt) Ltd and the University of Melbourne held a seminar recently to enlighten the parents and students about the University of Melbourne and the services offered by Edlocate.

While addressing the media prior to the seminar Mrs.Goolbai Gunasekara, the principal of AIS noted that the meeting was called to announce the endorsement of the University of Melbourne, a prestigious University in Australia and. Edlocate, a reputed student agency in Sri Lanka, two partners who work together to make quality higher education, a reality.

She pointed out that this was the first time AIS was endorsing a student placement agency of this sort and added that she had utmost confidence in Edlcoate, which had partnered with the school to send several of its brightest students to the University of Melbourne to complete their higher studies.

The meeting was called to solidify partnerships with both Edlocate and the University of Melbourne.
Mrs.Gunasekera further added that AIS has been sending its students to the University of Melbourne to complete their studies for several years, and endorsed this University as it has an excellent academic reputation and was conveniently located closer to Sri Lanka.

Meanwhile, Ms.Glen McIntyre, the University of Melbourne, Senior Regional Manager, (Southeast Asia and Indian Ocean rim) while addressing the media during a discussion said the University of Melbourne's main aim was to produce graduates who are globally mobile and culturally in tune, making them employable in any part of the world.

"We wanted to make our graduates well rounded, multi skilled and flexible persons. With this in mind we changed the undergraduate programs in 2008 and accordingly the university has added two extra subjects to the student's curriculum to help them become interesting individuals. The students have to choose subjects that deviate from their line of interest but in a field that they are passionate about .We also put a lot of emphasis on encouraging our students to take part in exchange programs and voluntary programs," said Ms. McIntyre.

She also explained that the University of Melbourne, a highly ranked research University teaches its students to market themselves as employees and is a well recognized University among top notch global giants who find their students to be among the most productive.

Ms. McIntyre said that the University of Melbourne which was extremely pleased with the academic performance and progress of AIS students who have excelled in their chosen fields throughout the past few years has decided to grant AIS two part scholarships that amount to 50% of the tuition fee ,starting this year.

Edlocate will meanwhile, work in conjunction with AIS to aggressively promote Australian Education by assisting the students with career guidance, counseling, university placement, student visas, travel and accommodation. (Shabnam Farook)