US Kirkwood Community College eyes more Lankan students

Friday, 7 February 2014 01:56 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

On 10 December 2013 Kirkwood Community College in Cedar Rapids, IA welcomed a distinctive visitor from Sri Lanka, Priyanthy Dissanayake, representing Scholarships for USA Ltd. Accompanied by Kirkwood’s International Student Advisor, Gayle Glick and International Programs Director, Dawn Wood, Dissanayake had the opportunity to visit the newly remodelled ‘Linn Hall’, the oldest building on Kirkwood’s campus. Kirkwood was founded in 1966 and is named after Kirkwood’s Governor during the time of the Civil War, Samuel J. Kirkwood. Her tour of Kirkwood’s campus was vast and included a driving tour of over 885 acres of campus space, a 15-acre athletic complex and 1.65 million square feet of interior learning space.

Linn Hall is the fortunate recipient of the historic globe shown behind Dissanayake placed in the lobby of Kirkwood’s largest building. The globe represents Kirkwood’s strong commitment to international education and to forging international partnerships with people from all across the world. Kirkwood International Programs has as its vision that every Kirkwood faculty, staff and student will have an intercultural experience as part of their education at Kirkwood. Much of this commitment involves attracting students from all over the world. Ms. Dissanayake visited the newly remodelled International Programs Department where global partnerships are fostered and had the opportunity to discuss Sri Lankan student needs with the staff there. Sri Lanka is the latest of many country visitors Kirkwood’s International Programs office has been fortunate to host, as can be witnessed by the myriads of cultural artefacts displayed throughout the offices. As a result of Dissanayake’s visit, Kirkwood plans to host several students from Sri Lanka and guide them to the US education in the areas of study they seek. Sri Lankan students will be wholeheartedly welcomed at Kirkwood where there are currently 330 international students from over 60 different countries. Kirkwood excels in International Student Services and the ability to assist students in the possibilities of transfer to colleges and universities all over the US. Kirkwood has found that international students perform well in the Kirkwood environment for their first two years where the average class size is 21 and hands-on learning is a core value of all 120 academic programs, more programs than any other Iowa community college. Upon completing their first two years, international students are guided by transfer advisors to apply to universities around the US for their final two years: the 2+2 pathway. Dissanayake was guided on a tour by Dawn Wood of the campus as well as the hotel at Kirkwood Center, a state-of-the-art one-of-a-kind four star teaching hotel located on the Kirkwood Campus. Hospitality Arts is one of over 120 academic programs offered at Kirkwood Community College. The hotel is very unique in that it is the only teaching hotel in the US at a community college. Dissanayake stayed in one of the 71 luxurious guest rooms during her visit. The hotel’s vision is to prepare the finest professionals to lead the global hospitality industry. Other programs offered by Kirkwood include Liberal Arts Transfer, Business Administration, Information Technology, Engineering, Health programs, and more. Kirkwood is ranked in America in terms of two year degrees awarded and is Iowa’s only League for Innovation Board Member College. It is a foregone conclusion that a tremendous partnership and friendship has been initiated between Scholarships for USA in Sri Lanka and Kirkwood Community College to the benefit of Sri Lankan students and Kirkwood students. For more information about Kirkwood, see www.kirkwood.edu.