Meeting with the university coordinators, Dr. Cuaresma inquired about the scholars’ academic progress and discussed other scholarship-related concerns. Dr. Cuaresma also took the opportunity to extend her appreciation to the university coordinators for hosting the project’s scholars and expressed her hope for further collaborations in the future.
In a separate meeting with the scholars, Dr. Cuaresma introduced some of the Center’s grants and trainings and encouraged the scholars to complete their degrees on time as the project is nearing its completion. She also urged the scholars to connect with and be active in their respective country alumni associations once they graduate. Currently, the project has five ongoing scholars at CMU, eight at KKU, and one at KU. The project also has 12 ongoing scholars at the University of the Philippines Los Baños.
The coordinating visit is a core activity of the IDRC project that serves as a proactive feedback mechanism between and among the scholars, university coordinators, and SEARCA. The five-year fellowship project, which awarded 53 Master’s degree scholarships to nationals of Cambodia, Lao PDR, Vietnam, and Myanmar is expected to wrap-up in February 2017. (Eriza C. Asilo)