The visit of delegates from Choonhae College of Health Sciences , South Korea to Faculty of Allied Health Sciences, University of Peradeniya

• A team of South Korean delegates from the Departments of Nursing and Dental Hygiene of Choonhae College of Health Sciences, Ulsan City, South Korea visited the Faculty of Allied Health Sciences, University of Peradeniya on 18 th January, 2019. Prof. Kum Ja Kim, Prof. Changhee Kim, Prof. Mi Sook Lee and Prof. Su Nil Kim represented the team and their main purposes of the four days visit to Sri Lanka and University of Peradeniya was to establish an academic collaboration between the two faculties that will facilitate staff & students exchange program, search the avenues for collaborative academic deeds such as donation of resources for the Nursing Skills Lab and conducting research projects, seek the feasibility of organizing oral and medical health camps targeting the public of selected upcountry tea states and contribute resources to improve both oral and physical health of that tea estate community in the future.

  With the hope of strengthening the academic alliances with international universities, Dr.Rasika Illeperuma, the Head of the Department of Nursing, played the major role as the coordinator for initiating this academic endeavor which will focus its benefits for the Department of Nursing in particular thereof the official documents finalized by the Choonhae College of Health Sciences were submitted to Prof. Upul B.Dissanayake, the Vice Chancellor of University of Peradeniya at his office in order to activate the authorized process of execution of the MoU in the immediate future. The subsequent forum at the Faculty of Allied Health Sciences created an opportunity for the delegates to meet Prof.Mahinda Wickremaratne, the Dean of Faculty, the Heads of five other departments and the academic staff of the Department of Nursing where the both parties shared the information related to the academic program and exchanged the presents and souvenirs commemorating this precious milestone of two universities. In further, the team was guided to the Department of Nursing to witness how the B.Sc Nursing degree program is carried out and how the Nursing Skills Lab is functioned at present.

  The official visit of these delegates was concluded by the sightseeing at Sogama Tea Estate in Pusselawa area which was an ample opportunity for the team to handover their donations to the children and their families and a discussion was conducted with relevant authorities of the estate to organize an oral and medical health camp targeting this estate community facilitated by expertise from both institutes in the future hence such initiative will fertilize the academic collaboration between the two universities.