Cuba Welcomes University Students from 70 Nations

HAVANA, Cuba - Deputy Higher Education Minister Gil Ramon Gonzalez informed on Wednesday that there are youngsters from over 70 countries presently studying in Cuba.

In a press conference held at the Higher Education Ministry, Gonzalez pointed out that in the present academic year there are over 78,000 Cuban and foreign students in 63 universities.

At the end of the 2009-2010 course, close to one million 82,000 university students had graduated in the Caribbean nation since the triumph of the Revolution, thanks to the creation of a plan of scholarships for those centers of higher studies, he stressed.

That project began on November 7, 1960, at the University of Havana, recalled one of its founders, Gerardo Emilio Chong, who added that the initiative made it possible for youngsters from different territories and social condition to study at the center of higher studies.

Students of engineering, architecture and medical sciences were benefited from that program promoted by Commander in Chief Fidel Castro, who attended the inauguration of the first university dormitory, he pointed out.

The ceremony to mark the 50th anniversary of the Movement of University Scholarships will take place on January 19 at the Main Lecture Hall of the University of Havana, as announced by the institution’s Vice-rector, Norma Barros.(anc)