Foreign university placement advisors Scholarships for USA in its 10-year existence has made huge leaps in promoting US higher edu-cation in Sri Lanka and once again for the first time in the country, it assembled a group of personnel from some of the most well-estab-lished universities in America to come down to Sri Lanka to meet with the promising young talent looking for options for higher edu-cation.
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| Representatives from seven well-established US universities discuss various matters with stakeholders from the public and private sector and the directors of Scholarships for USA. -Pix by Upul Abayasekara |
The group included representa-tives from Pepperdine University, Tufts University, northeastern University, Vanderbilt University, Pennsylvania State University, Washington and Jefferson College and ohio Wesleyan University.
During their visit, the delegates from the universities were taken to several leading schools in Colombo to experience firsthand the qual-ity of education in the country and their stay culminated with the Council of international Schools University Tour to South Asia held at the Hilton Colombo yesterday, where students were able to meet agents from 27 diverse and prestig-ious universities.
The CiS University Tour pro-vided students with an excellent opportunity to become familiar with the multitude of higher educa-tion options that are offered abroad by personally speaking with col-lege and university admissions officers and faculty members.
At a breakfast meeting held at the Cinnamon Lakeside last Tuesday, the delegates from the seven top universities met with stakeholders from both the public and private sector in the country.
"I think that those of us here today are experienced internation-al recruiters who have in-depth knowledge of the different education systems around the world and we can see that the quality of the students produced here in Sri Lanka is very high and we are very excited about the prospect of letting students know of the opportunities in higher studies available to them in the US," stated the international recruitment Washington and Jefferson College Director and current Chair Council of international Schools Asia Committee Kristin Crosby, who led the first ever CiS group to Sri Lanka.
She added that she had personally met some phenomenal students who had made great contributions to their respective universities, gone on to do great things and enriched the campus and classroom life and explained that the universities were keen to open up opportunities to more students.
When asked about certain reluctance on the part of people when it comes to exploring higher education options available in the US, Crosby felt that there are a couple of issues that had resulted in this mindset.
"People are still uneasy about exploring opportunities in the United States and the price does play a factor in this, but i think that if they are willing to do their research, they would find that there are scholarships and financial aid and international students are not always asked to pay the full price."
The Council of international Schools, through its two-day visit to Sri Lanka, looked to promote the US with its superior higher education as an attractive destination for further studies as opposed to Sri Lanka's traditional options of the UK and Australia.
Furthermore, the delegates hope to create public awareness about the affordability and accessibility of their universities and through its education, build up a globally educated and employable work-force in Sri Lanka.
Also present at the meeting was the US embassy economic and Commercial Affairs officer Charles Fowler, Virtusa Vice President and American Chamber of Commerce Secretary of the Board of Directors Prasath Nanayakkara, MP Harsha De Silva, MP Niroshan Perera, CEO of The Graduate School of Management Prof. Gunapala Nanayakkara and several representatives from schools in Colombo.
"in my view, the US provides a very balanced education. As an undergraduate, i took classes not only in electrical engineering, i also had a minor in economics and took classes in humanities, natural sciences and management and several other subjects in order to graduate," said Virtusa Vice President Prasath Nanayakkara, describing his experience at the Massachusetts institute of Technology.
"it provided a well-rounded education, which is what you need to really succeed in a commercial world because there are many stakeholders one has to deal with to succeed in business and having had that well-rounded exposure helped me to gain a competitive advantage. it also gave me a chance to work in the US for another six years following the five years it took me to complete my education," he explained.
MP Harsha De Silva who studied at Truman State University expressed similar sentiments, stating that what he gained through his education in the US had helped him in many ways and had been applied to all aspects of his life, whether business, people issues and other experiences and processes.
"The fact that US education is unaffordable is a myth; while the education can be expensive, the many scholarships and financial aid available makes it very afford-able. The education also follows a more holistic approach, very com-prehensive and the fact that US universities are collaborating with us will go a long way in changing the very culture of education in Sri Lanka," he predicted.
While in discussion with the del-egates present at the meeting, the MP stated that Sri Lanka needed to be able to compete with Asian countries and that while the coun-try's economy was growing, it was still lagging in comparison to other countries in the region. De Silva also expressed that Sri Lanka's best resource was its people and felt that the entrance of such dis-tinguished universities would go a long way in building that resource in the future. -Cassandra MasCarenhas
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