Chinese Ambassador’s Scholarship lifts financial burden for eight UTech students

A financial burden lifted! This was the sentiment shared by Narobi Wright, a Midwifery student at the College of Health Sciences, University of Technology (UTech), Jamaica, as she gave the response on behalf of this year’s Chinese Ambassador’s Scholarship awardees.

Narobi Wright, who shared her challenges of attending university while simultaneously struggling with medical bills and the cost of caring for her grandmother, noted that “I spent a lot of my time applying for scholarships, and finally because of Ambassador Daojiang and his partnership with the University of Technology, Jamaica, a burden has been lifted.”

Narobi was among eight UTech students who were presented with scholarships valued at $1.6 million for the 2024/2025 academic year by the Chinese Ambassador to Jamaica, Chen Daojiang.

The students were awarded during an official handing over ceremony on Tuesday, December 3 inside the President’s Conference Room at the university’s Papine Campus.

The other beneficiaries are BSc. Actuarial Science student, Amoi Campbell; Doctor of Medical Dentistry student, Anelia Brown; BSc Pharmacy and BSc Nursing students John Simpson and Aliandra Carnagie respectively; BSc Environmental Health student, Crystal Rhone; along with Shenar Wright and Emma Gonzalez-Conejo who are pursuing Bachelor of Science degrees in Computing and Food Service Management, respectively.

The students earned the scholarships by demonstrating excellent academic performance, engagement in volunteer service, their leadership abilities and financial need.

President of UTech, Dr Kevin Brown, congratulated the recipients and noted his delight to see the mix of academic disciplines being supported through the scholarship initiative of the Chinese Embassy.

“I want to congratulate all the students. I see we have a very mixed group,” Dr Brown stated. “I want to express my immense gratitude to the People’s Republic of China and your Embassy for continuing to provide these scholarships.”

He also mentioned that “these scholarships will help to support our students who are from a range of economic backgrounds” as “to attend university in Jamaica is expensive.”

The president also signalled his optimism for a future increase in the Chinese Ambassador’s Scholarship programme for UTech students, noting, “We look forward to next year when maybe eight scholarships could be ten scholarships so that we can have more students benefiting from the People’s Republic of China.”

Last year the Chinese Embassy also provided eight UTech students with scholarships in the sum of $1.6 million.

Ambassador Chen Daojiang shared that he was thrilled to witness the “dynamic students and learning atmosphere” which exists at UTech. He underscored that “UTech is a leading university in the Caribbean” which has “cultivated a large number of outstanding talents for Jamaica and the region” and an institution that has “made great contributions to Jamaica’s economic and social development.”

Highlighting that this year’s presentation marks a decade of scholarship investments at UTech by the Chinese government, Ambassador Daojiang shared that over 50 students have been impacted and encouraged the current beneficiaries to “bring glory and benefit” to their country.

The ambassador noted that the Chinese Ambassador’s Scholarship is “a landmark programme of bilateral education cooperation” which “vividly illustrates our strong bilateral relations and profound traditional friendship”.