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Basseterre, St. Kitts, January 20, 2022 (SKNIS): Minister of Foreign Affairs, the Honourable Mark Brantley, is calling on citizens of St. Kitts and Nevis, particularly young people with a desire to pursue tertiary academic studies, to make full use of the scholarship opportunities that the Government has secured from diplomatic allies.
This month alone, media notices have gone out, inviting persons to apply for scholarships to study in Taiwan, Serbia, and Turkey. However, Minister Brantley said that there are times when the number of applications received is underwhelming. This may be due in part to the fixation that some may have in going to the United States or the United Kingdom.
“So many of us go and borrow large sums of money and put our families in tremendous debt and expense to get an education that if you looked carefully might be available somewhere for free,” Mr. Brantley stated on the January 19 edition of the Island Tea radio programme. “In my view, now there is no magic about where you go to get a degree. A degree is really just a ticket into the park. What you do with it is ultimately what matters, and so if you got a degree in Morocco, Taiwan, or New York, it really doesn’t matter at this stage. It really matters what you do with it, what you do with the education that you got and that I think is most important.”
Minister Brantley added that studying in countries such as Serbia, Taiwan, Morocco and similar countries helps persons gain a deep understanding and appreciation of the country’s culture, language, and people.
“I can’t emphasize how important that is in today’s world to make you more competitive, to make you more appealing to an employer, for example, when you can say ‘I speak fluent Mandarin’ that’s a pretty phenomenal thing,” he said. “It means that if that businessman is doing business with China, is doing business with Taiwan, then you become a tremendous asset to them,” he added.
The foreign affairs minister encouraged persons to broaden their horizons and look beyond the offerings of the United States to enjoy the world of opportunities that other countries have to offer.
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