Ingrin trains professionals for printing industry

by Hiran H. Senewiratne

The Ingrin Institute of Printing & Graphics Sri Lanka Ltd., aims at improving the standard of the print and graphics industry in the country with the training of persons engaged in the printing, advertising, packaging and media, its Managing Director Ananda Wickramaratne said.

The INGRIN training programmes are well-known for its job related and tailor made training and enables one to cope with the latest developments in the printing field.It also attempts to create awareness on contemporary printing technology and career prospects in the field forwards school leavers in Sri Lanka, and provide opportunities for training and developing career in the printing and graphics industries for such school leavers and interested parties, he said.

The institute is engaged in designing and conducting study programmes, seminars, workshops and training programmes with the help of local and international experts. Its study programmes are characterised by their orientation on practice (70%) other than theory (30%).

Wickramaratne said that students with GCE (O/L) and (A/L) could enter these printing and graphic design courses with a nominal figure. The Institute conducts three to six months certificate course, nine months Diploma course and one year Management programme on printing and graphic designing.

The Institute also works with the Printers' Association of Sri Lanka, Institute of Packaging and the International Advertising Association.

Up to now Ingrin Institute has trained more than 8000 in the industry and conducts free seminars for non-printing and graphic designers.

All courses are conducted at a nominal fee. For the betterment of the rural people it has set up a branch in Galle and is now in the process of setting up branches in Kandy, Kurunegala and the East.

Wickramaratne said that they hope to set up a designing academy at the Malabe IT Park with affiliations of University of Amsterdam, Uppsala University of Sweden, London College of Printing and hope to get a US university for the purpose of student exchange programmes in the area of designing.

The qualifications obtained from INGRIN Sri Lanka bears an international recognition in the printing and graphics industries.

The lecturers at the institute are trained in the Netherlands on a regular basis in order to meet global standards and requirements of the industry.

A Board of Directors under the technical guidance of a Technical Advisory Committee governs the institute. It also provides employment opportunities in Middle East and other countries in the world. Their qualification is recognised all over the world and certificate holders could handle any machine in the industry.

It was against this background and also in view of the rapidly developing need for a fully equipped training institute of excellence that the then Ministry of Internal and International Commerce and Food submitted a cabinet memorandum and received approval for the establishment of the INGRIN Institute of Printing and Graphics Sri Lanka at the former Sathosa Printers premises.

The INGRIN Institute of Printing and Graphics Sri Lanka is the professional institute representing the graphic arts community in the country. The support and encouragement from the community towards a formal standard of professional qualification will help to uplift the standard of the print and graphic industry in Sri Lanka and South Asian countries, Wickramaratne said.

INGRIN Sri Lanka will be an asset to the graphics community in Sri Lanka and will guide them to reach excellence in print and graphics in the days to come. "we They have a technical committee to up date the syllabuses relating to printing and graphic designing," Wickramaratne said.

The Sri Lanka Association of Printers together with the Export Development Board (EDB) linked up with the INGRIN Foundation in the Netherlands, which has at its disposal a wide network of Dutch graphic expertise in setting up the INGRIN Institute of Printing & Graphics Sri Lanka. INGRIN Amsterdam has been working with the Sri Lankan printing industry through the EDB since 1994 in the field of providing practical training.

Under this training programme since 1994, 23 trainees from the Sri Lanka private and public sectors have been trained in modern pre-press and printing technologies in the Netherlands.

The Institute has been registered as a BOI company in 1997. The present contributors to the equity of the company are the Sri Lanka Export Development Board (EDB), Corporative Wholesale Establishment (CWE), Sri Lanka Export Credit Insurance Corporation (SLECIC), Lanka General Trading Company (LGTC), Sri Lanka Institute of Packaging (SLIP), and the International Advertising Association. Individual printing, packaging and advertising companies have also contributed towards the equity of the institute.

INGRIN Sri Lanka now operates under the Ministry of Tertiary Education and Training.