US Ambassador Fetes Success of “100,000 Strong In The Americas” Exchange Student Program in Colombia

Ambassador of the United States Kevin Whitaker received at his residence last Friday morning several members from Colombia’s private sector to celebrate the success of the  100,000 Strong in the Americas (La Fuerza de 100,000 en las Americas) higher education initiative in Colombia. This meeting also served to highlight the contribution that Colombia’s National Learning Service (SENA) has made in the last year to the fund for education and innovation. SENA was the first public institution that contributed to the fund. For 2016, the fund seeks to find new investors to support the next students that will benefit from the initiative.

100,000 Strong increases student exchanges and promotes a spirit of cooperation, understanding and prosperity between the United States and other countries in The Americas. This initiative was launched by President Barack Obama with the intention of providing cross-cultural tools to new generations of leaders across the continent.

“Through these funds the relation between the US and Colombia will strengthen and will benefit thousands of students, teachers and researchers, who will become the transformative generation of our academic communities,” said Ambassador Whitaker (pictured above) at the opening of the event.

In 2015, five SENA training centers and five community colleges in the United States have received 100,000 Strong scholarships.

These grants were given in a ceremony at the White House in December 2015:

1. Centro Internacional Náutica Fluvial y Portuario – International Nautical River & Port Center  (Bolívar) – Fox Valley Technical College (Wisconsin)
2. Centro Tecnológico del Mobiliario – Furniture Technology Center (Medellín) – Snow College (Utah)
3. Centro de Comercio y Turismo – Center of Commerce & Tourism (Quindío) – Miami Dade College (Florida)
4. Centro de Servicios y Gestión Empresarial – Enterprise services and Management Center (Medellín) – Central New Mexico Community College
5. Centro de Automatización Industrial – Center for Industrial Automation (Caldas) – Flathead Valley Community College (Montana)

In addition to this, six Colombian higher education institutions have benefited in previous years. With their US counterparts, they are:

1. Universidad EAFIT – Purdue University (Indiana) – 2014
2. Universidad de la Salle – New Mexico State University – 2014
3. Universidad de la Sabana – Northern Illinois University – 2014
4. Universidad Autónoma de Bucaramanga – Texas A&M University – 2014
5. Corporación Universitaria Minuto de Dios – Universidad Interamericana de Puerto Rico – Recinto de San German  – 2015
6. Universidad del Norte & Universidad EAFIT – Purdue University – 2015

Photo courtesy: US Embassy, Bogotá