Business Education

Cambridge applauds high-achieving students at Brilliance in Sri Lanka Awards

University of Cambridge International Examinations (CIE) recently presented Brilliance in Sri Lanka Awards to outstanding students who achieved the best results in the Cambridge International O Level, and International A Level in June 2007 exam sessions.

The awards ceremony took place at the Galle Face Hotel, Colombo. Guy Lane, CIE Director and William Bickerdike, CIE's Regional Manager South Asia, attended and congratulated Sri Lanka's exceptional students. Education Minister Susil Premajayantha was the chief guest.

CIE's Regional Manager South Asia, William Bickerdike said: "These successful students have gained Cambridge qualifications that will help provide a solid foundation for further success in education and life. Schools, teachers, parents and CIE congratulated them on their outstanding achievement."

Buddhike Neminda Madanayake and Chathurani Hemamali Abeyratne achieved the best results in the world in O/Level Biology and A/Level Business Studies, respectively.

Guy Lane, CIE Director, said: "This is an amazing achievement and Buddhike Neminda Madanayake and Chathurani Hemamali Abeyratne are to be congratulated for top marks. To achieve highly in a subject is fantastic. To achieve the highest marks in the world for a particular subject is quite amazing."

The results of the CIE Holiday Diary Competition were also announced at Brilliance in Sri Lanka. The competition was open to all Sri Lankan students between the ages of 14 and 18 who were on school holidays in July and August 2007.

Students were asked to submit five diary entries for any five days of their holidays. Criteria for choosing the winners included the extent to which the student had helped others, contributed to the welfare of the community or developped a new skill.

The first prize was awarded to Himeshi Praveeni de Silva of Visakha Vidyalaya. The second prize was awarded to G.V. Nekitha de Silva of Holy Family Convent Bambalapitiya and the third prize to Dineska Gimhani Marini de Mel of Bishop's College, Kavindi Sachethana Palugaswewa of the OKI International School and Manuri de Silva.

Sun Microsystems appoints Ceylinco Net Assist as authorised education centre

Sun Microsystems, the world's leading provider of network computing and infrastructure solutions and creator of the Java technology platform, has appointed Ceylinco NetAssist as its authorised education centre for the island, in a first for Sri Lanka.

Facilities previously unavailable in the field of IT education in Sri Lanka, are now made available. Upto now, the country had no direct presence of Sun Java training partners in Sri Lanka.

The primary benefits of such direct representation are many: the provision of the original Sun Java curriculum to universities and training institutes, the provision of examination vouchers for students, as well as the facility of training by foreign experts specially flown down to the country for this purpose.

The nett result of training in Sun Java is that once an individual is so certified in Sun Java, his or her degree of employability is tremendously enhanced and concomitantly his or her earning capacity increases by 30%.

In particular, his or her ability to seek lucrative employment overseas is greatly enhanced. Prior to the appointment of Ceylinco NetAssist, a large number of institutes provided training in Java without any direct communication with Sun Microsystems and thus now that gap is effectively bridged.

Therefore students are assured of the original Java syllabus. What is more, now that examination vouchers are available locally, it is less costly.

The advantage for students is that with direct representation of Sun Microsystems in the country, this global leader will offer its products and services at a preferential rate in keeping with the local economy. Further, the curriculum and examination vouchers will be bundled together to offer a cost effective price to students.

The advantage for software companies in the country is that wherever there is a dearth of expertise for training, this void will be filled by foreign experts specially flown for intensive courses.

Sun Microsystem's network computing infrastructure solutions include computer systems, software, storage and services. Apart from the Java technology platform, its core brands include the Solaris operating systems, StorageTrek and the UltraSPARC processor.

Ceylinco NetAssist, a joint venture between the Ceylinco Education Group and NetAssist Services of Singapore caters to training for high-end professionals in the IT field such as computer network engineers and software developers from corporates across the country.

Ceylinco NetAssist complements university IT training with the supply of technical skills training using state-of-the-art products. At present there is a high rate of enhancement of IT products and therefore Ceylinco NetAssist ensures that it offers the latest products to students.