Around Rs 3-5 m needed annually to study at Massey Uni

Waruna PADMASIRI

A student is expected to spend approximately Rs 3-5 million annually to live and study at the Massey University in New Zealand, which is one of the top 300 universities in the world, the Daily News found out at a ceremony held recently. The ceremony was organized by the Graduate Institute of Science and Management (GISM) to send their first batch of students who had completed their first year of studies locally, to New Zealand's Massey University.

Founder and chairman of the GISM institute, Prof G G Senaratne said that he hoped the group of students who go to New Zealand would one day return to Sri Lanka as trained professionals and contribute to the country's development. He said that the input of foreign universities is having a much needed impact in creating an efficient and skilled labour force in Sri Lanka. Organisations, such as, GISM is rendering a great service by helping accommodate qualified school leavers or providing practical, industry relevant skills.

Senaratne said that a large amount of foreign currency reserves was saved by teaching students locally during their first year of study. Speaking to Daily News, two students at GISM said that the fees for studying locally was about Rs 350,000 for a whole year while they expect to pay, as much as, Rs 1,500,000 - 2,500,000 a year to follow their second and third years of study in New Zealand. This is in addition to another Rs 1,500,00-2,00,000 for living expenses.

Although students are able to pay for some of these expenses by working part time while studying in New Zealand, a bulk of this money will be a drain on Sri Lanka's economy.

The students said that it would be much cheaper for them to complete their degree locally and if they had the option, they would probably choose to complete the qualification here.

Honorary Consul of New Zealand Senaka Silva, Academic staff from New Zealand's Massy University, GISM academic and non academic staff, parents and students were present at the occassion.

The GISM is located at Udahamulla, Nugegoda and was set up as an institute for research. It currently provides undergraduate programmes in in Business Management, Applied Sciences, Engineering and Technology, Languages and Humanity.