The Japanese government will be providing Rs.420 million grant to Sri Lanka this year towards implanting the ‘Third Framework for Human Resources Development Scholarship (JDS) Programme.
After considering the necessity of further career development of JDS fellows, the Government of Japan has agreed to offer scholarship for PhD programmes at most 2 slots per batch.
Accordingly, altogether 150 (15 per year) opportunities for Master Degree Programmes and 04 opportunities for PhD programmes have been provided under this scholarship programme.
The selection process of the second batch of the Third Framework has already been completed and the selected officials are scheduled to commence their studies in September 2019.
In order to facilitate these officials, the Government of Japan has agreed to offer a grant assistance of RS.420 million.
Two exchanges of notes between the two Governments took place in Colombo while grant agreements between the Governments of Sri Lanka and the JICA for the implementation relating to the Human Resources Development Scholarship Programme were signed at the Ministry of Finance on Wednesday 17.
The Japanese Grant Aid for Human Resources Development Scholarship (JDS) Programme was introduced in Sri Lanka in 2010 by the Government of Japan in order to provide opportunities to the executive level public sector officials to undergo Master Degree Programmes in prominent universities in Japan.
Accordingly, the First Framework (2010-2013) and the Second Framework (2014-2017) of this programme were successfully completed in 2013 and 2017 respectively.
The Third Framework (2018–2021) was started in 2018 to continue this programme for further period of four years.
The Government of Sri Lanka expects that the public officers who will be benefited under this programme will contribute to the social and economic development of the country in a productive manner with self – confidence and also contribute to strengthen the existing bilateral relationship between two countries.
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Relevant documents were signed by Dr. R H S Samaratunga, Secretary, Ministry of Finance and Akira Sugiyama, Ambassador of Japan in Sri Lanka and r Fusato Tanaka, Chief Representative of JICA.
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