Education

Are you 'tangibilising' your brand?

Are you tangibilising your brand? is a forum for marketing professionals and senior managers, organised by The Chartered Institute of Marketing Sri Lanka Region, under the CIM Talking Point Series. The programme is sponsored by HSBC and will be held on March 18 at Palm Lounge, Galle Face Hotel, from 6.00 pm to 8.30 pm. The keynote speaker at the programme is marketing veteran Dr. Uditha Liyanage.

In a thought provoking presentation, Dr. Uditha Liyanage says, "Much is talked about getting your brand image right. But, what about your brand imaging? The distinction is important.

Is your product or service-brand tangible, not as a physical reality but as a mental construct? What can marketers and marketing communicators learn from cognitive psychologists in this regard? Albert Einstein said that imagination is more powerful than knowledge. Now, is this true for brands as well?"

Dr. Uditha Liyanage is a Chartered Marketer and a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Marketing, UK; and was the Chairman of the Chartered Institute of Marketing Sri Lanka Region during 1999 -2001. Subsequently, he was also elected as a member of the CIM International Board of Trustees for two years.

He is a Master in Business Administration and holds a doctorate from the Postgraduate Institute of Management (PIM), where he has been the Senior Faculty- Marketing over the past thirteen years, and the Institute's Head- Academic Affairs for two years.

He is now the Director of PIM and the Chairman of the Institute's Board of Management. He has published many articles on Branding and Strategic Marketing in leading journals, and addressed numerous conferences locally and internationally.

Dr. Liyanage is a Marketing Consultant to a number of leading local companies and international agencies and has moulded many senior managers through the years.

Presently he is also on the Board of Directors of Ceylon Cold Stores Ltd., Chemenex Ltd., Ceylon Leather Products Ltd., Q & E Advertising and DIMO. Dr. Liyanage is a member of the Boards of Study of PIM and Postgraduate Institute of Medicine; and a member of the Standing Committee on Staff Development of the University Grants Commission.

Dr. Liyanage's presentation will be followed by a discussion hosted by a panel of eminent speakers, namely, Managing Director of Hemas Manufacturing Divyaroop Bhatnagar, Creative Director of Grant McCann Erickson, Russel Miranda, Managing Director of The Nielsen Company - Sri Lanka, Bhuwan Singh and Premium Category Brand Manager of Ceylon Tobacco Company Dinuk Peiris.

The Chartered Institute of Marketing Sri Lanka Region organises the CIM Talking Point series as a part of the Continuous Professional Development (CPD) programmes with the aim of aiding its members to achieve greater standards in their professional careers, enlightening and empowering them to drive change in today's business landscape.

World Education Fair 2008 in Colombo

Pac Asia, has organised a series of educational fairs commencing March 2008, with the objective of providing prospective applicants a more individual and personalised, approach to foreign university placement as apposed to the current 'showcasing' approach that exists in educational fairs and exhibitions today.

World Education Fair 2008 organised by Pac Asia for the first time in Sri Lanka to be held on March 15 and 16, at Samudra Hotel, brings several reputed universities from Australia, USA, New Zealand and Ireland.

Having its head office in New Delhi, Pac Asia serves students through the network of its offices located in India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Canada, UK and Australia.

Pac Asia has the belief of educating people through international education and it's an organisation that provides value-based services to both International Institutes and aspiring students in India, Nepal and Sri Lanka.

Pac Asia offers students access to more than 1,000 institutes around the world with over 3,000 programmes to choose from, including Diplomas, Bachelors, Masters, Research and PhDs.

The main study programmes offered by Pac Asia are Business, Arts, Science, Engineering, Law, Biological Science, Information Technology, Nursing, Forest Conservation, Telecommunication, Health and Behavioural Science, Education, Music and Creative Arts and Aviation to name a few.

Pac Asia's services are offered free of charge.

The commitment that Pac Asia has shown towards informing students and creating awareness about the prospects of further education abroad has allowed it to venture in collaborations with Universities all around the world. Apart from assessing a student's knowledge of spoken and written English, Pac Asia pays special attention to a student's application form and highlight the key areas for a well-presented and error-free case to the educational institutes.

This activity ensures better chances of consideration of candidature.

With the upcoming educational fair to be declared open by the Australian High Commissioner, Pac Asia gives their students the opportunity to meet the delegates of 20 universities invited from Australia, New Zealand, the USA, the UK, Canada and Ireland.

This fair is part of a series of events that will happen in all the countries that Pac Asia represents. As a first time event in Sri Lanka, Pac Asia hopes to make a change in the way educational opportunities and placements are presented to potential students.

ISB announces global social venture competition results

The Indian School of Business (ISB) announced the winners of the Asia Final of the Global Social Venture Competition held at the ISB.

Team Bio Power Technologies from Indonesia and Defen Safety Syringe from Taiwan were the top two winners of the final round. The SMART team from Thailand won a special prize for making a social impact.

"With Asian markets poised to grow exponentially, the GSVC aspires to promote entrepreneurship in this region, especially entrepreneurship that is socially and environmentally responsible" said Director of the Base of the Pyramid Learning Lab in India Reuben Abraham.

Bio Power Technologies, Prasetiya Mulya Business School, Indonesia addresses the electricity shortage in Indonesia. It involves local farmers and communities and uses agricultural waste to create electricity, thus creating business sustainability as well as social and financial return on investment.

Defen Safety Syringe, National Chengchi University, Taiwan will address the issues of injection-caused diseases and improve medical safety by providing a safe injection concept.

They provide easy-to-use and cost-effective safety syringes to Europe and Asia and other target SMART, Thammasat University, Thailand will train 5000 economically disadvantaged young adults from coastal communities in Southeast Asia with expert diving and environmental conservation skills.