Durham College’s International office was pleased to recognize the achievements of Dipika Sharma, an international student in the Human Resources Management graduate certificate program on July 11, awarding her a $500 scholarship.

The scholarship was available to a new international student in either the International Business Management or Human Resources (HR) Management program who attained a 3.0 GPA or higher in the 2013 winter semester. Sharma far exceeded this requirement by achieving a 4.32 GPA.

“I was just totally shocked when I saw the email,” said Sharma. “I was sitting with my friend and he knew what my facial expression was exactly, it was completely shocked and happy too.”

Prior to attending Durham College, Sharma achieved a Bachelor of Business Administration degree from the University of Rajasthan in Jaipur, India. Upon the recommendation of friends, she researched post-graduate programs including Durham College’s offerings.

“When I looked on the website it was the ‘Success Matters’ logo that really interested me to go through and research it,” said Sharma. “I was very interested in the HR field out of all the business fields so I pursued the (Human Resources Management) program.”

Sharma attributed her success as an international student to multiple factors including her extracurricular activities that helped her achieve a Canadian experience which included volunteering with Big Brothers/Big Sisters of Ajax-Pickering, Denise House in Oshawa and the Indo-Canadian Culture Association at Durham College. As well, she praised her home stay family and program faculty for providing immeasurable amounts of support.

“It has been a lot different from my Indian experience,” said Sharma. “It has been more interesting and I think that is why I was able to score a high GPA. I was a good student in India to but I felt it was more interesting giving presentations, doing research and making projects, I just love all that.”

Sharma plans on extending her time in Canada as she looks to pursue another HR program either with the college or the University of Ontario Institute of Technology (UOIT).

The International Office currently assists approximately 300 international students and will be offering textbook scholarships for the fall 2013 semester for new international students with exceptional International English Language Testing System scores.