Head of delegation of the European Commission to Jamaica, Ambassador Marco Mazzocchi Alemanni (right), makes a presentation to Evona Channer, one of the 2008 Erasmus Mundus scholarship awardees, at a farewell function held last week. Channer will be pursuing a master's degree in law and economics at the Erasmus University of Rotterdam, Netherlands. At left is Dr Hopeton Dunn of the University of the West Indies, who was Channer's lecturer during her graduate studies at the University of the West Indies. - Contributed

TWO JAMAICANS, Evona Channer and Danielle Dowding, will pursue two-year programmes at European universities courtesy of the European Commission.

Channer will read for a master's in law and economics at the Erasmus University of Rotterdam in the Netherlands while Dowding will attend the Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Norway, where she will pursue a master's degree in coastal and marine engineering and management.

Channer completed her bachelor's and master's degree at the University of the West Indies while Dowding attended Stanford Uni-versity in England.

They won the awards from an international field which included 19 other Jamaicans.

The scholarships are worth J$9.5 million which is provided by the European Commission and covers tuition, travel and living expenses for the duration of the students' courses.

Options

The students receive J$2,382,576 (£21,000) for each academic year. They have the option of studying in any country where the universities participating in the Erasmus Mundus programme are located.

Launched in 2004, the Erasmus Mundus is a cooperation and mobility programme in the field of higher education. It aims to enhance quality in European higher education and promote intercultural understanding with developing countries.

Last year, Simeon Mohansingh, Marsha Mason and Daley Christopher John became the first Jamaicans to successfully apply for the awards.

The initiative is an extension of the Erasmus programme which was launched in 1987. It is named after Dutch humanist and theologian Erasmus of Rotterdam.