Sports / Local
Matabeleland students urged to apply for US scholarships
24 Sep 2013 at 17:46hrs | Views
Students from Matabeleland have been urged to apply for scholarships offered by the United States of America through a multi-million scholarship fund for economically disadvantaged but gifted students, radiodialogue reported.
This comes in light of visiting admissions officers from five American universities and colleges, who are in the country, on a recruitment drive.
The admission officers are in the country for a series of presentations and are heading off to Manicaland, for the first time, scouting for potential students and after two months, they will visit Bulawayo and Gweru for more series of presentations.
EducationUSA Country Coordinator, Rebecca Zeigler Mano, from the United States Embassy - Public Affairs Sections in Harare said "This will be the first time ever that we are bringing admissions officers to Manicaland. We have more admissions officers coming in the next two months - some are visiting Bulawayo, some Gweru and those only coming to Harare for one day will not have time to travel," she said.
Zeigler-Mano said there are four advising centers in Zimbabwe where interested students could seek more information on scholarships and apply.
She said information centres were in Bulawayo, Gweru, Mutare and Harare, whereas her office tries to spread opportunities for presentations and visits them fairly for equal representation.
In past years, the US embassy has been encouraging students from Matabeleland to take up opportunities because only a few did and as a result the region could not withstand the competition with other provinces.
Some Matabeleland citizens mostly based in the Diaspora even complained of "marginalisation" of students from the region in the awarding of scholarships.
But over the years there has been a steady increase of applications.
"In August this year, twelve Zimbabwe students were awarded MasterCard Foundation Scholarship to pursue further studies in the United States. One student enrolled at Duke, four at Michigan State, three at Arizona State and four went to University of California at Berkeley.. An additional 6 Zimbabweans received scholarships under this programme during its inaugural year in 2012."
The EducationUSA Country Coordinator said the five American universities- Duke, Michigan State, Stanford, UC Berkeley and Wellesley- are host recipient institutions, together with Arizona State University, for the MasterCard Foundation Scholars Program, introduced in 2012.
"Which is why the admissions officers are responsible for recruiting undergraduate international students,"Zeigler-Mano said.
The MasterCard Foundation Scholars Programme, launched in September last year, is a 10-year global initiative to educate and develop next-generation leaders who will contribute to social and economic progress.
The Programme enables young people from economically disadvantaged communities to complete quality university education, and make successful transitions to further education or to the workforce in their home countries.
There are just over 1 200 Zimbabwean students enrolled at various American universities and colleges.
This comes in light of visiting admissions officers from five American universities and colleges, who are in the country, on a recruitment drive.
The admission officers are in the country for a series of presentations and are heading off to Manicaland, for the first time, scouting for potential students and after two months, they will visit Bulawayo and Gweru for more series of presentations.
EducationUSA Country Coordinator, Rebecca Zeigler Mano, from the United States Embassy - Public Affairs Sections in Harare said "This will be the first time ever that we are bringing admissions officers to Manicaland. We have more admissions officers coming in the next two months - some are visiting Bulawayo, some Gweru and those only coming to Harare for one day will not have time to travel," she said.
Zeigler-Mano said there are four advising centers in Zimbabwe where interested students could seek more information on scholarships and apply.
She said information centres were in Bulawayo, Gweru, Mutare and Harare, whereas her office tries to spread opportunities for presentations and visits them fairly for equal representation.
In past years, the US embassy has been encouraging students from Matabeleland to take up opportunities because only a few did and as a result the region could not withstand the competition with other provinces.
Some Matabeleland citizens mostly based in the Diaspora even complained of "marginalisation" of students from the region in the awarding of scholarships.
But over the years there has been a steady increase of applications.
"In August this year, twelve Zimbabwe students were awarded MasterCard Foundation Scholarship to pursue further studies in the United States. One student enrolled at Duke, four at Michigan State, three at Arizona State and four went to University of California at Berkeley.. An additional 6 Zimbabweans received scholarships under this programme during its inaugural year in 2012."
The EducationUSA Country Coordinator said the five American universities- Duke, Michigan State, Stanford, UC Berkeley and Wellesley- are host recipient institutions, together with Arizona State University, for the MasterCard Foundation Scholars Program, introduced in 2012.
"Which is why the admissions officers are responsible for recruiting undergraduate international students,"Zeigler-Mano said.
The MasterCard Foundation Scholars Programme, launched in September last year, is a 10-year global initiative to educate and develop next-generation leaders who will contribute to social and economic progress.
The Programme enables young people from economically disadvantaged communities to complete quality university education, and make successful transitions to further education or to the workforce in their home countries.
There are just over 1 200 Zimbabwean students enrolled at various American universities and colleges.
Source - radiodialogue
