Pinchuk Foundation Scholarship Winners Join the Ranks of Students Studying in the U.S. and Abroad

From center right: U.S. Ambassador John Tefft, Viktor Pinchuk and British Ambassador Leigh Turner with the winners of the 2011 WorldWideStudies Scholarships. Victor Pinchuk Foundation (c) 2011. Photographed by Sergii Illin

Posted by: U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine John F. Tefft 

Last week I visited the Pinchuk Art Center to address this year’s winners of the Pinchuk Foundation’s  WorldWideStudies (WWS) scholarship.  I was joined by British Ambassador Leigh Turner and other representatives of the diplomatic corps who turned out to celebrate this important program.  Now in its second year, WWS sends promising young Ukrainians to study for their advanced degrees at top international universities.  Students pursue degrees in fields selected by the Foundation as being a top priority for further development of Ukraine, fields such as: agricultural studies, environment and ecology, law, and public administration.

In 2010 the Pinchuk Foundation awarded scholarships to 17 bright, young Ukrainians. This year the number of scholarship winners has grown to 19 and I’m happy to say that three of them will be studying at U.S. universities.  After an exciting awards ceremony, I had a chance to talk with the U.S.-bound scholarship winners.  Andrii Kril and Natalia Shcherbynska will pursue Masters of Law degrees at University of Pittsburgh and New York University respectively.  Anastasiya Prymovych will attend Harvard University for a Masters in Regional Studies.  I should mention that, as it turns out, Anastasiya is also an alumna of one of our U.S. Government sponsored exchange programs.  She spent a year studying in the U.S. on our UGRAD program which, incidentally, is about to send 28 Ukrainians to study at U.S. colleges and universities for the 2011-2012 school year.