French-Sri Lankan Conference on Higher Education
The French-Sri Lankan Conference on Higher Education was inaugurated jointly at the Kingsbury Hotel in Colombo by Jean-Paul Monchau, Ambassador of France to Sri Lanka and the Maldives and S.B. Dissanayake, Minister of Higher Education.
Addressing participating institutions and other distinguished guests, Chief Guest Minister Dissanayake congratulated the organisers and the French delegation of 15 schools and private institutes and consortiums representing over 80 higher education institutions for initiating contacts for future partnerships between French and Sri Lankan higher education institutions, and bringing the Student Fair to Sri Lanka for the first time.
This conference focused on three main aspects:
The large choice of qualifications and institutions of excellence in various fields including the engineering sector, business administration and arts, including fashion, and design.
The equality of treatment in France of students from France and from other nationalities, where the cost of higher education in the public sector in France is highly subsidised in the public universities (85 universities across the country); up to 95% of tuition fees are taken care of by the French Ministry of Higher Education.
The existence of over 700 Masters and specialised degrees, fully taught in English. As a Sri Lankan student, these courses are extremely interesting as knowing the French language before-hand is not a pre-requisite. Learning French before going to France can be an added advantage. French courses are available in the public and private sector of education in Sri Lanka, and at the Alliance Française de Kotte in Colombo and its branches situated in Kandy, Matara, Galle and Jaffna.
Minister Dissanayake, in the company of the Ambassador of France Jean-Paul Monchau and the representative of Campus France Head Office in Paris, Bastien Palermo-Chevillard, also launched the new website in English: www.srilanka.campusfrance.org – providing all useful information required for finding a suitable program to student visa guidance.
This French-Sri Lankan Conference on Higher Education and meetings with French higher education institutions was been parallely organised at the Alliance Française de Kotte. This provided a special occasion for students to widen their horizons about choosing France for higher education purposes.
