The American Chamber of Commerce in Sri Lanka is pleased to welcome Scholarships for USA (Pvt) Ltd as its newest member.
AmCham is affiliated with the US Chamber of Commerce, the largest business federation in the US, representing three million companies, competing in the global market and acting as an advocate for the US business community worldwide. AmCham is also a member of the Asia Pacific Council of American Chamber of Commerce (APCAC), which represents the interests of over 40,000 businesses in 25 countries in the region and which offers members an opportunity to participate in activities that promote specific trade-related issues throughout the Asia Pacific region. AmCHAM Sri Lanka maintains close relationships with decision makers from US and the Sri Lankan Government, trade bodies, national and regional Chambers of Commerce and other institutions in Sri Lanka and United States, in order to promote the continuing interests of its Membership.
 |
| Priyanthi and Padmasena Dissanayake Directors of Scholarships For USA (Pvt) Ltd with Chullante Jayasuriya Executive Director American Chamber of Commerce in Sri Lanka |
Priyanthi Dissanayake is Sri Lanka's most successful and foremost independent student recruiter to United States. Beginning in 2001 with only one student and one school, today she has expanded her operations to 23 schools from nearly ten States, placing over 100 students.
"Priyanthi is undoubtedly head and shoulders above the rest of the private student advisors and has single handedly done much to advance the cause of U.S. higher education in the eyes of Sri-Lankan students and parents" - comments from a senior U.S. Dept of state official
Background:
In a career spanning just eight years, Priyanthi has placed over 100 undergraduate and graduate students in approximately ten schools - ranging from exclusive and very selective private liberal Arts schools in New England, to unknown small schools in the American Midwest. These schools vary from nationally ranked public research universities to some of the top regional state schools in Montana, Maine, Ohio, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, Kentucky and North Dakota. Currently, she partners with 23 schools. Nine of them, such as the University of Cincinnati, Montana State and Ohio Universities have appointed her as their official representative in Sri Lanka. Eight more, such as the College of St. Benedicts and St. Johns University, Otterbein College and University of North Dakota work with her on an exclusive basis. Six more, such as Bates College and Case Western Reserve are working closely with her to welcome her stellar students.
Priyanthi's biggest contribution has been the remarkably successful marketing of U.S. higher education to the Lankan middle class. In early years of her operation, when there was no entity Independent or US sponsored, promoting US Education beyond the city of Colombo, Priyanthi travelled across the island introducing U.S. higher education to provinces where it had never been promoted before. Her success is evident through her placement record, where she has placed students from Jaffna as well as Ampara - cities located at edges of the island - with a fair coverage of all other provinces. She single handedly destroyed the myth that U.S. education is only affordable to the upper echelon of Colombo society, by placing many brilliant achievers from the provincial middle class with hitherto unheard of financial aid packages. She won the respect of both her students/parents and U.S. colleagues when they realized that she only places students at schools after having visited and found them out to be safe (only Lankan recruiter to do so). She has developed a close rapport with each head of admissions to devise speedy admission processes - and introduced a novel "resume based approval within hours" - where students could hope to wrap up the entire application and admission process within 30 days to join a school of their choice. She stays true to her motto - "making U.S. higher education increasingly affordable" - by introducing a new and more affordable education destination each year. At the same time, she has made hitherto unknown American schools like Concordia College in Moorhead and North Dakota State University household names in Sri Lanka. In Concordia, she placed the first Lankan after 23 years and continued placing 22 more in the following five years, making Lankans the second largest among the international community, behind Ghana. At NDSU, she placed 61 students in four years, making Lankans the third largest international population after Indians and Chinese (from its 40th position), convincing her American partners that she is one of those rare international recruiters who could successfully promote America's coldest states to tropical Sri Lankans.
Another goal of Priyanthi is promoting Sri Lanka as a promising educational destination to American schools. Schools such as Bates College Maine and University of Cincinnati in existence for nearly 200 years and which had been travelling to the subcontinent for scores of years, visited Sri Lanka only due to Priyanthi's persuasion. After visiting (and having realized the potential), these schools have enthusiastically promoted Sri Lanka to countless other schools.
Priyanthi also has not wasted much time introducing her partners to Lankan institutes of higher education, as she believes there is much the Sri Lankan higher education system could benefit from the U.S. She has been instrumental in joining NDSU with the universities of Peradeniya, Moratuwa, Postgraduate Institute of Management of Sri Jayawardenepura and the American College of Higher Education (ACHE) Dehiwela, paving the way for a 1+1 MBA, which is the only American MBA delivered in Sri Lanka. It was only recently that the Lanka Institute of Chemistry and Cincinnati signed an articulation agreement on a 2+2 programme enabling Lankan Chemists to transfer to Cincinnati for a world class degree.
She has also brought the heads of geography depts. of the University of North Dakota and Peradeniya together, paving the way for student/faculty exchanges and joint research. She is currently working on bringing SLIIT together with the University of Cincinnati and Aquinas University College with Ashland University.
Organizational Ability:
At the inaugural Amazing America, it was hardly surprising that Priyanthi could attract the largest group of participants - eight schools (out of a total of 18) from Ohio, Montana, North Dakota and Kentucky thanks to her association with Dr.Mitch Leventhal Vice Provost UC International. Priyanthi meticulously planned a series of events, giving each school a maximum exposure outside the road show. Dr.Mitch Leventhal of University of Cincinnati was interviewed live at Lanka's premier Breakfast Show "Good Morning Sri Lanka" of MTV by former Mrs. World Rosie Senanayake whilst the Vice Chancellor University of Colombo welcomed the visitors introducing them to all her Deans to explore possibilities of joint collaboration in the largest such gathering in UoC's recorded history . A luncheon meeting with Oregon University alumnus Dinesh Gunewardane MP Minister Urban Development (and a former Minister of Higher Education) was a rare opportunity for Americans to learn about the government policies and opportunities in higher education. And at a meeting organized by the Interact District, each representative got an opportunity to meet and interact with the cream of Lankan youth. Each event was well covered by the press and appeared in the following day's news whilst the Lanka Woman's interview of all Lady Reps was covered in its October issue. |
E-mail