Presidential Scholarship award holders shown Lanka’s beauty and rich heritage on inaugural country trip

As a part of a familiarisation tour of Sri Lanka’s rich cultural and natural diversity among foreign students, the Higher Education Ministry organised its first country trip for the Presidential Scholarship award holders.

Participating in this four-tour were 45 foreign students from countries such as Kenya, Nigeria, Pakistan, Bhutan, Afghanistan, India, Palestine, South Africa, Bangladesh, Uganda, Nepal, Botswana, China, the Maldives, Myanmar and Swaziland accompanied by their faculty coordinators and ministry officials who travelled to various interesting sites in Nuwara Eliya, Pasikudah, Batticaloa, Polonnaruwa and Kandy.

Speaking to the Education Times, Higher Education Ministry Additional Secretary (Development) Piyasena Ranepura said the objective is to promote Sri Lanka as a tour as well as an educational destination and showcase the rich historical, cultural diversity of the country.

“Since we intend to become the knowledge hub in the region, the message that these students take back to their respective countries about Sri Lanka is important,” he said.

“We need to promote our higher education among foreign students as we have very good faculties/programmes which are not much known to outsiders. Also, if you take other countries in the SAARC region such as India, Bangladesh and Pakistan, these countries too have scholarship schemes. Given this backdrop, we com- menced scholarship programmes in Sri Lanka from 2011,” he said adding the presence of foreign students in the local universities will be beneficial for the local students in terms of knowledge sharing, etc.

According to Nwokwu Daniel from Nigeria who is following the MSc in Molecular Life Since at the Institute of Biochemistry, Molecular Biology and Biotechnology of the University of Colombo, during his seven months stay in Sri Lanka, he was offered many opportunities from participating in international conferences/symposiums to social opportunities such as this foreign tour.

“In just four days we witnessed major historic sites and beautiful sceneries of this Island nation. Sri Lanka is indeed the Pearl of the Indian Ocean,” he says adding that ever since the trip, he is promoting the country among his friends.

Interestingly, this tour has nurtured relationships among all the Presidential Scholars, in addition to starting an online group for exchange of ideas, Daniel said.

For Majid Khan from Pakistan who is pursuing a Food Science Degree at the University of Sri Jayawardhanapura, the trip had been a great learning experience.

“For example, travelling around the country made me witness the tremendous postwar recovery that Sri Lanka has made. By looking at the tourist destinations it was hard to believe that there was a war going on in the country a few years back. The amazing travel locations apart, the hospitality of the people is unbelievable. I learnt quite a lot about Sri Lanka during this tour and it is an impression that I will be taking back to my country,” he said.

Mixing with fellow students, I got to interact with those from places like Israel and Palestine as they shared with me their true feelings. I could in return act as an ambassador to my country and build up a positive image about my country as opposed to all the terror stories people often hear about Pakistan,” he adds.