Twelve Guyanese have been awarded Chevening scholarships to pursue studies in the United Kingdom.
On Wednesday night, British High Commissoner to Guyana Gregory Quinn hosted a farewell reception for the outgoing Chevening Scholars, where he proudly announced that this year there had been a 600% increase in the number of Guyanese scholarship recipients.
Quinn told a visibly impressed audience that the High Commission, which over the years issued two scholarship awards at a time, had this year presented 12 Guyanese and one Surinamese student with the honour of pursuing Masters Degrees in the United Kingdom on full scholarships.
The reception saw past and present scholars gathered together, which Quinn said was done to create an opportunity for them to share experiences and hopefully become advocates for Guyana’s development.
In his address to the audience, Quinn emphasised that the ultimate goal of the Chevening awards is to assist in the development of a country’s human resources so those that benefit can in turn contribute to the development of the nation.
“The scholars will be studying for postgraduate qualifications in a variety of topics, ranging from health to energy, computing to social education, engineering to water management.
And once they have been awarded their degrees, we expect them to come back and work for the benefit of Guyana. That is the purpose of Chevening—to give people the skills and knowledge needed to help develop their own country,” Quinn said.
Guest speaker Gino Persaud, Director of Transparency Institute of Guyana Inc. and a past Chevening scholar, addressed Guyana’s brain drain problem.
Persaud implored the awardees to return in service of their country, while noting that many students were in the habit of staying abroad after the completion of their studies.
Persaud went on to highlight the state of Guyana’s political climate and suggested that the scholars, upon their return, will be equipped to challenge the status quo and should therefore recognise the importance of their roles in holding the government of the day accountable.
The application process for next year’s Chevening Scholars has already begun and persons are encouraged to recommend the scholarship to anyone they believe is deserving of such an award.