(2).jpg "Mindspring Careers")
The Board of Investment of Sri Lanka (BOI) has recently agreed to support Priyanthi Dissanayake (www.scholarshipsforusa.com) on her mission to attract American institutes of higher education, to set up offsite campuses in Sri Lanka. "Priyanthi's ultimate goal of making Sri Lanka the next Malaysia with a view of setting up offsite campuses in Sri Lanka is very compatible with BOI's own vision of turning the country into a Center of Knowledge Excellence," stated Shivan de Silva, the BOI's Executive Director of Promotions and Mega Projects. He further added that BOI also plans to use the good offices of Sri Lanka's Ambassador in Washington DC to ensure that the largest number of participants would attend the seminar and workshop which are scheduled to be held on 8th -10th October 2010.
USA-Sri Lanka investment seminar, fair on higher education in October
17-Feb-2010
Starting in 2001 with placing of her own daughter at a hardly known small private liberal arts school in Minnesota with an extremely generous financial aid package and realizing the value of American education through her progress, Priyanthi focused on becoming a connector to hundreds more who lacked ability to secure admissions with desired financial aid, to a US school by themselves. Today her beneficiaries are around 150 (including doctoral candidates) from widest geographic locations reaching the furthest shores of the Island. Some of her early students have earned PhDs from elite universities in US and those who chose career paths have already become national accounts managers of US companies heading the Fortune 500 list. Others have topped academics and extra curricular activities, going on to receive prestigious post-graduate grants that allow independent travel and exploration. Strong believer in late Anagarika Dharmapala's century old declaration "The American system of (higher) education is as near perfection as it is possible for a human system to be" she firmly believes the future of the Island increasingly lies with a young academics steeped in liberal arts values of US.
To cater to larger majority of youth denied of entrance to local universities each year-where over 80% of qualified are turned away due to lack of space - Priyanthi has resolutely pursued a mission of joining her American partners with Lankan institutes of higher education, increasing accessibility and affordability of US higher education. Examples of collaborations she initiated are University of Cincinnati (UC)/Institute of Chemistry Ceylon and the one between Geography Departments of University of North Dakota (UND) & Peradeniya. Only American MBA offered in Sri Lanka by American College of Higher Education (ACHE) is a direct result of Priyanthi introducing Dr. Sudhir Mehta (Associate Vice President North Dakota State University) to ACHE in 2007.
With a compelling vision to prepare thousands of academically brilliant Lankan youth for overseas employment (replacing house maids with professionals in middle east and other international job locations), she is currently engaged in bringing International Institute of Health Sciences (IIHS) Welisara with the Dept of Nursing of UND delivering BSc and MSc in Nursing on line. This will pave the way for larger majority of 20,000 plus Registered Nurses (RNs) to earn a top American degree (at fraction of a cost and without ever having to leave workplace) making them instantly qualified to work anywhere in the world, with potential to remit considerably larger amount of foreign exchange to Treasury.
Among other collaborations are; the articulation agreements between Sri Lanka Institute of Information Technology (SLIIT) and UC to initiate 2+2 IT degree; between South Asian Institute of Technology and Management (SAITM) and College of Business and Public Administration of UND to offer top American business degrees locally.
Priyanthi Dissanayake recalls the time the Island exported its teachers to half of Africa and many parts of South and South East Asia. She recalls the days Lankan universities were considered among the best in Asia. She also believes that the time has come to turn off millions of foreign exchange flowing out to support thousands of Lankan students across the globe and instead attract students from the region to Sri Lanka, offering quality American education at the most competitive cost. She firmly believes its time to bring all concerned stakeholders to one table to make Lankan higher education a shining example once again.