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| Tuesday, 25 May 2004 |
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Dearth of qualified project Managers in Lanka There is a growing global demand for Project Managers and this is also evident in Sri Lanka. However, there is a lack of qualified staff to fill this vacuum. Visiting lecturer to the International College of Business and Technology Limited (ICBT) Peter Davis said that one reason for this is the lack of proper educational courses and more education courses are urgently needed to fill this gap. Most of the educational institutions are focussed on subjects such as Law, IT, Medicine and Engineering. He said that one of the reasons is that some of the educational institutions do not know that there is a demand for professionals in this area. "This is kind of a vicious circle," he said. He said that the global demand for project managers is around 25% while in Sri Lanka it is 15%. The main reason for a low demand in Sri Lanka is the lack of supply. The demand for Project Managers is more for developing countries since there are more development projects in construction, development and community projects. He said that a Project Manager plays the role of a Director in a film where he or she is responsible for everything from script to direction, managing finances and the final act of screening. Davis, a Senior Manager on Construction and Project Management for the past 10 years said that most of the opportunities are in the Construction field. He identified IT, telecommunication, and hospitality industry public utilities as the other areas where there is a demand. The salaries for Project Managers are very high in Australia and in Sri Lanka too the structure is increasing. He said that he conducts lectures at the ICBT, at Mount Lavinia and is conducting a Masters course for Project Managers with a staff of foreign lecturers. ICBT is the only offshore location of UWS in Sri Lanka, and is a fully owned subsidiary of Ceylinco Consolidated, a BOI approved project. In Sri Lanka the job of a Project Manager is being added to the tasks of the Managers. "This is not practical, since Project Managers is a specialized area," he said. However, some leading private companies and also government institutions have realised that the Manager alone cannot focus on this area and are hiring Project Managers. SS |
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