APIIT Merit Scholarships 2010

"Promoting access to quality higher education"

APIIT - Sri Lanka, the pioneer and market leader in quality higher education in the private sector has announced the award of 10 Merit Scholarships in 2010 for the 4th consecutive year to academically promising and financially needy students. Each scholarship will be worth Rs.1,300,000 (1.3 million) and will cover the full course (tuition) fees of Staffordshire University UK Degree programmes in Business Management or Computing conducted at the APIIT City Campus in Colombo. The scholarships will help realize the aspirations of needy students for whom access to high quality higher education would otherwise be only a dream.

Dr Gayan Jayakody, Head/ Scholarship Scheme explained that through this annual APIIT Merit Scholarship Scheme a large number of deserving students from rural backgrounds have already gained access to internationally recognized British Degree programmes. Elaborating further, Dr Gayan stated that the APIIT Management is committed to continuing this noble task of supporting deserving students in spite of the economic situation in the country.

The APIIT Merit Scholarship Scheme was launched in 2007 after APIIT-Sri Lanka secured a grant under the World Bank Project for 'Improving Relevance and Quality of Undergraduate Education' (IRQUE) in Sri Lanka. By launching a novel scholarship scheme for the first time in the private higher education sector, APIIT- Sri Lanka has demonstrated, yet again, its commitment not only to promoting quality in higher education but also to establishing equality of access to higher education in Sri Lanka. It is noteworthy that this is the only scholarship scheme in the private sector that supports full-time study leading to a foreign degree in Sri Lanka.

The overarching objective of the APIIT Merit Scholarship Scheme is to enable academically deserving students with financial limitations to pursue higher education at APIIT. Ten Merit Scholarships have been awarded annually during the past two years to students from diverse backgrounds in the country. This year too, 10 full scholarships will be awarded and the selection will be based on Z-scores at the GCE Advanced Level Examination and parental income level. These ten Merit scholarships include six scholarships for Computing leading to the BSc (Hons) in Computing Degree and four scholarships for Business Management leading to the BA (Hons) Business Administration Degree awarded by Staffordshire University in the U.K. Most of the past scholars hail from districts such as Galle, Kandy, Matara, Ratnapura, Batticoloa, and Kalutara, and this year too preference will be given to applicants from outside the Colombo and Gampaha districts.

APIIT - Sri Lanka has been established with the Board of Investment approval to offer tertiary education in Computing/IT and Business Studies in partnership with the Asia Pacific Institute of Information Technology in Malaysia and Staffordshire University in the UK. These international partners take pride in promoting APIIT - Sri Lanka as a socially responsible higher education institute and extend their fullest support to the success of this CSR project.

APIIT - Sri Lanka's scholarships Programme is yet another venture that underpins the APIIT mission of producing internationally recognized computing and business professionals who will meet the demands of the industry and commerce and contribute to the socio-economic development of the country.

Details of the scholarship scheme and the application forms could be obtained from the APIIT City Campus at 388, Union Place, Colombo 02. Please contact Senani, Erandi, Kanchana or Ruzlie by phone (011) 2675060 for further details and to receive the applications by post. The application forms may also be downloaded from the APIIT web site: www.apiit.edu.lk.