Embassy of the United States

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Ambassador Blake's Remarks for the EDEX 2008 Opening Ceremony

18 January, 2008 - Sirimavo Bandaranaike Memorial Exhibition Center, Colombo.

Ladies and Gentlemen, it is a privilege to represent the United States of America and to join with my fellows on the dais in welcoming you to this year’s National Higher Education and Careers EXPO – Sri Lanka.

I would like to extend the warmest appreciation to EDEX for their tremendous job in organizing this remarkable event.

Ladies and gentlemen, higher education is a vital investment in people. For families around the world, it can open the doors to the opportunity for a better life, prosperity, peace, and freedom—the aspirations of people everywhere.

Sri Lanka is a country blessed with many attributes. 

• You have an effective primary and secondary public education system that has produced an impressive literacy rate of 93%, the highest in the region. 
• You have a sizable English-speaking population, although certainly much more can and should be done in this area.  The U.S. is working in a number of areas with Minister Premajayantha to provide more English training opportunities for Sri Lankans so your young people can better compete in today’s globalized economy.

However, Sri Lanka’s system of 15 publicly-funded universities and ten associated institutes cannot meet the growing annual demand for post-secondary education, leaving some 100,000 qualified Advanced Level graduates each year desiring further education and forced to seek it abroad, mostly in Australia, the UK, Singapore, India, Canada and, increasingly, the United States where last year nearly 2,400 Sri Lankan students chose to study – higher on a per capita basis than India, which has some 86,000 students in the U.S.

I am pleased to report that there are now about 600,000 students from all over the world studying in the U.S., a new record for us.  They are there because of the vast array of choices available to them from nearly 4,000 high quality institutions of higher education. 
Scholars from all over the world recognize America as a center of undisputed academic excellence.  Fully 242 of the 758 Nobel prize winners have been Americans.  Many of those were researchers based at American universities where they had the freedom and flexibility to pursue their interests.  Today’s students have access to those same world-class laboratories and resources.

One of the pillars of U.S. academic and scientific communities is vibrant international participation. The students and faculty of America’s outstanding academic and research institutions value and derive great benefit from the new ideas and perspectives that foreign students bring.

I encourage everyone to visit the booth of the US Embassy and the US Sri Lanka Fullbright Commission who can give you more information on how you can avail yourselves of opportunities to study in the U.S.   

Let me also tell you that the embassy gives priority to student visa applications, and we post appointment wait times on our website.  Today, 97% of applicants whose visas are approved receive their visas within two days and well before the school year starts.

Let me again congratulate EDEX for maintaining this ideal platform for young minds to initiate and achieve educational and career excellence.  

Thank you and good luck to you all.