First EducationUSA Advising Center in Cebu Opens

The first EducationUSA Advising Center outside of US Embassy in Manila opened its doors in Cebu City starting March 29, 2019.

The center is located at the second floor of the Josef Baumgartner Learning Resource Center, University of San Carlos-Talamban Campus, this city.

The center, which is open to the public, will offer accurate, unbiased, and comprehensive information about educational institutions in the United States, as well as guidance to prospective students on how best to access those opportunities.

It will provide a variety of free educational resources, including webinars, public information sessions on topics related to U.S. education, individual consultations on U.S. study, and college application support services.

“The advising center is a tremendous resource for anyone who is interested in studying in the United States. We’re very excited that young people in this area will have access to tremendously valuable information about US education right here in the advising center,” said U.S. Ambassador Sung Kim during the launching ceremony.

University of San Carlos (USC) President, Fr. Dionisio M. Miranda (right), with US Ambassador Sung Kim inside the EducationUSA Advising Center at the Josef Baumgartner Learning Resource Center, USC-Talamban Campus, Cebu City. The center is open to the public for free. (PIA Cebu)

Kim said the decision to open an advising center in Cebu is spurred by the large turnout of attendees during the university fairs in the city.

“For the last two years, the embassy has conducted university fairs in Cebu City and the turnout has been tremendous, reinforcing the need for the year-round advising services that this center will provide,” said Kim.

Last year, more than 700 attendees participated in the first ever U.S. university fair held in Cebu, of which 19 U.S higher education institutions participated.

Kim said the “impressive” 2018 attendance inspired 37 institutions from the U.S to join the second annual university fair in Cebu last month, which the ambassador said drew even more people.

“The increasing popularity of these fairs show that there is sustained interested among Cebuanos in studying in the United States. The Embassy wants to make sure that everyone who is interested in exploring study opportunities in the United States has easy access to all the resources and information they need to successfully achieve that goal,” he added.

The ambassador is hopeful that with the presence of the advising center in Cebu, “we will continue to see an increase in the number of Filipino students studying in the United States.” (rmn)