BRITISH HIGH COMMISSION

NEWS RELEASE

SEPTEMBER 07, 2010

BRITISH HIGH COMMISSIONER AWARDS SCHOLARSHIPS

The British High Commissioner Dr Peter Hayes attended an event at the British Council on 6 September for Sri Lankan and Maldivian scholars who have been awarded Chevening scholarships.

The prestigious Chevening scholarship programme awards fully-funded places for post-graduate study at British universities to overseas students each year.  The scheme is funded by the UK government and is jointly run by the British High Commission and the British Council.  This year HSBC is jointly funding one of the scholarships.

Commenting after the event Dr Hayes said:

"The Chevening scheme is a fabulous opportunity for Sri Lankan and Maldivian students to take advantage of the world-class education on offer at British universities.  Scholars will also come back with a deeper understanding of the UK's culture and values.  We hope this will help us maintain the long-lasting bonds of friendship that already exist between the UK and Sri Lanka and the UK and Maldives.

I am grateful to HSBC for their generous support to the Chevening scheme.  HSBC's unique international vision as the world's local bank means it understands the value of building capacity in each country in which it works.  The British government shares this value.  Many of the key challenges facing governments today - resolving conflict, promoting economic prosperity and tackling climate change - are global in nature.  We need experts in every country in the world working in their own countries and internationally to address these challenges.  We hope that the Chevening scholarship programme will make an important contribution to this."      

Nick Nicolaou, CEO of HSBC Sri Lanka and Maldives commented:

“HSBC Sri Lanka is happy to have come forward as a joint sponsor to support a local Chevening Scholar for the very first time. Since 1999, HSBC globally has supported many Chevening Scholars, including 37 scholarships for 2010/11.

We are glad to provide Seshika Fernando the opportunity to pursue one of the most prestigious and highly competitive Finance programmes in the world at the London School of Economics. This course will provide her with in depth knowledge in the fundamentals of global asset markets, financial instruments and risk management within the UK financial sector. We believe this knowledge will help her progress in her career when she returns to Sri Lanka.”

This year’s successful Chevening scholars are Seshika Fernando and Guruparan Kumaravadivel from Sri Lanka and Mohammed Anil from Maldives.  They will take up studies at the London School of Economics, the University of Oxford and the University of Essex.