Education advisor raises awareness on further studies in US |17 October 2017

 An adviser for education USA, Iqbal Maherally who is based in Mauritius, has been raising awareness on opportunities to study in the US through a visit.

Mr Maherally provides assistance to Mauritian and Seychellois students who wish to seek higher education in the US.

Education USA, which is an affiliate of the US department of state, falls under the bureau of educational affairs.

The task Mr Maherally has at hand is to provide guidance to students on how to proceed when applying for US higher education, the different factors they can use to make a successful university search, additional requirements for the application, the deadlines to submit the application among other information.

He holds presentations and even informal talks with students to sensitise them on the options they have.

His first visit in Seychelles was in 2015 when he visited numerous institutions and this time he met the Agency for National Human Resource Development (ANHRD), Independent school and the University of Seychelles (UniSey).

The objective of Mr Maherally’s visit was to also meet students but unfortunately schools were closed as a precautionary measure with regard to a plague outbreak in neighbouring Madagascar.

“I have been able to meet administrators of the schools, the acting chief executive of ANHRD Nadia Lauricourt and a few students from UniSey so I would deem my visit very productive and fruitful as we are on the way to making decisions on how to reach out to more students,” he said.

He said he felt that students and administrators are not aware of the many opportunities available in US higher education.

“There are financial aid and scholarships available for international students and many people seem to be unaware of that and this is pretty surprising,” he said.

Mr Maherally has proposed to hold virtual sessions with parents and students of Independent school as from next month to keep raising awareness and he hopes that through the help of the ANHRD and the US consular agency more educational institutions will be interested with the sessions.

“With modern day technology my presence is not always needed in Seychelles, I can have my presentations done over the web with interested parties, however I will be back in February to meet more institutions,” he said.

For those who want to learn more about opportunities to study in America information is available at the American Study Corner at the UniSey library, US embassy Port Louis Facebook page or e-mail Mr Maherally on MaherallyIM@state.gov.