Education

Imperial Institute wins the first ever Path Breakers Award

The BSc students of Imperial Institute of Higher Education recently beat students from seven other universities in the first ever student focused competitive academic realty TV programme called the "Path Breakers", designed and organised by Aspirations Education (Pvt) Ltd.

The competition was conducted in case study format and consisted of three qualifying rounds. Eight teams from reputed private universities took part in the first competition and out of those; four teams were selected for the second round. The two winning teams from the second round qualified for the last round and IIHE team emerged as the overall winners.

A member of the winning IIHE team explaining the competition mechanisms said, "We got Harvard case studies for the competition and approximately about 9 hrs. of preparation time at the first two levels.

During the first round we had to analyse and present a case called All The Wrong Moves and the second round case was called Growing for Broke. We had to prepare a report and a presentation and at each level cases kept getting tougher and judges' expectations grew higher. But thanks to all the coaching, learning and training we received at IIHE we managed to face each session with confidence and certainty."

The teams were judged by an elite group of academics and industry professionals that consisted of Dr. Uditha Liyanage, Deepal Sooriyarachchi and Kasturi Wilson. The five-fold evaluation criteria consisted of skills in problem identification, analysis, presentation, making recommendations and practical approach taken to solve the problem.

The IIHE team has been awarded with a trophy, certificates and a cash reward of Rs. 100,000 while Gimhani Gunasinghe who was adjudged the best female presenter received an additional Rs. 25,000 and a certificate.

Tharaka Perera, Gimhani Gunasinghe, Vinushi Wickramaratne and Anushka de Silva who are 2nd year BSc (Hons) Business Management students represented the Imperial Institute of Higher Education at this competition.

"Synergy Insight Out" translates knowledge into practice

Insight Out - an innovative consumer insight programme designed by the Synergy School of Marketing drew to a close today, with teams vying for top honours at an awards ceremony held at the Taj Samudra Hotel.

Insight Out was designed to give students an opportunity to have a hands on approach in experiencing market dynamics thus enabling them to apply their knowledge in practical settings. Each group was assigned a topic to be researched within a specified geographic area where they conducted qualitative and quantitative research into each topic.

Michael Ranasinghe and Mohomad Adamally, Directors of Synergy cited that - "We received over 150 entries and it was after much deliberation, that we finally narrowed the field down to four teams.

We do hope to expand Insight Out in coming years. At Synergy, our commitment is to develop many such programmes that will in the final analysis, help create marketing professionals whose knowledge and experience translates into a clear competitive advantage for his or her employer, which at the end of the day is what matters when it comes to professional education".

Insight Out this year involved four teams of six students each who unveiled their research findings to an audience comprising external judges, students and lecturers of Synergy. The panel of judges headed by head of marketing ICI Graham Marshall included Shaheen Cader of the Nielsen Company and Grant McCann Erickson Director Stanly Carvalho .

The competing teams were The Transformers who researched lifestyles in different locations of Colombo; The Knowledge Hunters whose topic was life styles in the South (Kalutara, Bentota, Ambalangoda, Galle); The Spartans who looked at the retail trade in Kandy and Matale covering the modern trade, A/B/C Groceries and Wholesellers and Beautilicious who were assigned the topic the Cosmetics and beauty care market in Wattala, Ja-Ela, Seeduwa, Katunayake and Negombo.

Head of the panel of Judges for the Insight Out programme Graham Marshall said "The talent that the marketing fraternity has at it doorstep is tremendous - that was the general consensus of the panel of judges.

These students not only delivered presentations with excellent content, which was lucid and vivid, but displayed remarkable soft skills. Team Beautilicious emerged winners of this year's competition while the team the Transformers were named runner-up.

The winner and runner up teams were awarded cash prizes from Synergy while the members of the Winning Team were awarded full scholarship until they complete their marketing studies at Synergy. The Runners-up were granted 50% scholarships. All the participating students were awarded certificates of challenge by Synergy.

Fiona Nanayakkara of the Winning Team said, "We are extremely thankful to Synergy for giving us the opportunity to participate in this event and we would call it an unforgettable life time experience. None of us were experienced in Market Research therefore we had to start from scratch. Going into the field from households to salons made us understand the consumer's perception of the product.

Whilst developing our analytical and presentation skills we also built up team spirit considering the fact that we all got to know each other from Insight Out. We spent our weekends and after work hours in putting the presentation together. Long hours we have spent with the team for the presentation and all the experience paid off and it feels really good to be the winning team.

It was truly a fantastic opportunity to be a part of this project and we are proud to be students of Synergy!"

The programme which was well attended, not only benefited the students that went out on the field, but all members of the audience who had an opportunity of learning through their presentations as well.

IOM renovates school housing tsunami-affected families

Students of Methodist College, Dehiwela and their parents gathered near renovated school buildings and brightly coloured swings and slides on a warm March morning. It was indeed a happy day for these students who eagerly waited over three years to return to their school, as some buildings of the school housed tsunami-affected families in the area until recently and hence needed to be renovated.

At the request of the school authorities, the International Organisation Migration (IOM), through its Care and Maintenance programme, renovated the play area, classrooms, the laboratory and the staff room, upgraded sanitation facilities and constructed a canteen.

IOM's Care and Maintenance programme ensures that adequate care and maintenance support is provided to tsunami-affected people living in transitional shelters in Gampaha, Colombo, Kalutara, Galle, Matara, Ampara, Batticaloa and Trincomalee districts.

The programme also includes decommissioning of voluntarily vacated shelter sites, garbage collection, fire-extinguishing equipment, water supply, lighting, gully suckers, hygiene promotion training, and workshops on topics such as gender, protection, health and safety.

The dilemma- degree or professional qualification for your child?

At the launching ceremony of Buckinghamshire New University, UK, MBA Programme on February 28 at the Trans Asia Hotel Minister Susil Premajayantha in his address on matters relating to education mentioned that around 125,000 students pass the GCE (A/L) but can only absorb around 19,900 students to our Universities.

The Sri Lanka Institute of Marketing - SLIM has an ideal solution. All those who have two passes at the GCE (A/L) can enrol after an entrance test to read for the Postgraduate Diploma in Marketing - PG Dip M (SL).

This programme is internationally recognised and is awarded by the National Institute of Marketing in Sri Lanka. SLIM is a member of the Asia Marketing Federation affiliated to the World Marketing Association.

PG Dip M (SL) has three semesters of six months each that has exams, assignments and at the end of the last semester there is a research project that requires a dissertation.

Thus this programme can be completed with 18 months of study and around three months to complete the dissertation. It is also a part time programme that permits students to work while studying.

These Diploma holders are well placed to continue further studies with relevant experience and qualify to enrol the Buckinghamshire New University, UK, MBA Programme which also gives a full exemption of their 1st Semester due to the programme content of the PG Dip M (SL).

Consequently they would attend only the second semester which is about 6 months and also complete the dissertation thereafter. It can be thus said that this can be one of the fastest routes to an MBA that every young adult desire to hold.

SLIM also offers an unique opportunity for students who are 16+ or those after GCE (O/L) where they can complete the Preliminary Certificate in Marketing - PCM and enter the PG Dip M (SL) Programme without having to sit for the GCE (A/L) examination.