By Shanique Richards
St. Kitts Reporter
The Organisation of American States (OAS) has announced the availability of financial assistance for citizens wishing to further their education at college level for the academic year 2007-2008.
Local OAS representative, Starret Greene told The Observer that the Professional Development Scholarship programme seeks to assist individuals and companies in both private and public sectors by providing financial aid for training programmes and scholarships.
“After a brief pause last year, the OAS has now re-invented the Professional Development Scholarship programme. The programme was reviewed then re-established in March 2007 for persons seeking financial assistance. The organization’s only gain is to reap the rewards of having a skilled labour force in this Federation. The OAS is satisfied with the number of persons returning to the country with university degrees and, with a trained human resource, all member states will be in the position to become more advanced,” Greene said.
He said the programme also enhances education, social development, economic diversification, scientific development, and sustainable development of culture and tourism. He noted however, that the programme exempts medical and law courses due to the duration and cost effect.
“The programme aspires to assist individuals with interest in developing their skills and education. The agency will help individuals in gaining university degrees in many areas such as administration, management, finance and much more. However, this programme exempts medical and law programmes. All citizens of the Federation of St. Kitts and Nevis whether young or old are qualified to apply for any OAS scholarship or training programme. However, it’s mainly designed to assist persons who would like to acquire undergraduate or graduate degrees,” he said.
Greene also mentioned that entrepreneurs and self-employed individuals can also qualify for this assistance.
To be eligible for acceptance, the basic criteria suggest that the applicant must be a citizen of St. Kitts and Nevis, must have a satisfactory academic record, and must agree to return to the Federation after completing their desired course.
Interested persons can complete proposals online at www.educoas.org.
The acceptance of these proposals is determined by factors such as the demand for the training course, duration of the course and the cost benefit of the course as well as the educational performance of the applicant.
Since the programme has resumed several persons have been awarded scholarships including Kenny Pemberton (undergraduate degree in International Tourism Management), Jeweleen Manners (online graduate degree) and Kenesha Woods, who has been given an OAS placed scholarship.
Each scholarship is worth up to US$30,000 per year with an overall budget of about US$6 million. Greene explained that individuals are allowed to apply for assistance more than once, but those persons are required to work at least two years and become integrated in their home country before gaining financial assistance with their second degree.
He added that expedience is of the utmost importance as funds have already been distributed and some persons are simply awaiting a call from the OAS to inform them of when their classes for the academic year 2007-2008 will begin.
