EDUCATION

Graduation and induction ceremony of IESL

The Annual Graduation and Induction Ceremony of the Institution of Engineers, Sri Lanka (IESL) will be held at 5.30 p.m. on August 15 at the Committee Room ‘B’ of the BMICH.

A batch of students who have completed all three parts of the degree equivalent part-time engineering course conducted by the IESL will graduate while engineers who have been successful at the professional review will be inducted as chartered engineers.

The IESL is conducting a three-year engineering course in three disciplines namely civil, mechanical and electrical. Students who do not qualify to enter universities even though successful at the Advanced Level Examination (Mathematical Stream) are eligible to follow this course.

In addition, holders of other engineering diplomas could also register to follow the course.

Lectures are delivered by university academics and senior engineers who serve in the industry. Applications for the course are called in January for the course that commences in February, every year.

Students who successfully complete all three parts of the IESL Engineering Course, are eligible to become Associate Members of the IESL which paves them the way to become corporate Members of the Institution after going through a process of Professional Review.

The Institution of Engineers, Sri Lanka is the only organization in Sri Lanka that holds the right to grant the professional qualification, Chartered Engineer of CEng. Engineers who qualify from universities are required to undergo a process of professional review after serving mandatory number of years in the industry in order to qualify as Chartered Engineers.

One hundred and eighty seven engineers who obtained their professional qualification as Chartered Engineers during the previous year will be inducted during the ceremony on August 15.

Five winners of the “Junior Inventor of the Year” 2007 competition organised by the IESL will also be awarded scholarships during the ceremony.

CIM graduation ceremony and membership investiture 2008

“As a profession, marketing is at the heart of every business, ensuring that products and services are both customer-focused and profitable for the organisation.

Marketers can make a key contribution to important corporate objectives - creating and sustaining competitive advantage; improving customer satisfaction; and achieving growth in income, profitability and market share.......

Today’s awards marks a significant step towards earning the ‘marketing licence to operate’, but this is by no means the end of the journey, said Senator, Colin Linton of the CIM Academic Senate, the Guest of Honour at the Graduation Ceremony and Membership Investiture 2008 of The Chartered Institute of Marketing Sri Lanka Region.

The graduation ceremony and membership investiture is the biggest event in the academic calendar of The Chartered Institute of Marketing Sri Lanka Region. This year, 178 finalists, including 2 diplomates from the Maldives who had completed the CIM Professional Postgraduate Diploma in Marketing graduated;

While 98 new Members and six new Fellows namely, Bertram Paul, General Manager - Sales and Marketing of Chevron Lubricants Lanka PLC; Deepal Abeysekera, Head of Marketing and Public Affairs of People’s Bank; Indrajit Wickramasinghe, Vice President - Retail Banking and Marketing of the NDB Bank;

Marina Tharmaratnam, Chief Executive Officer and Director of Union Assurance PLC.; Nushad Perera, Group Chief Marketing Officer of Dialog Telekom and Chief Executive Officer of Dialog Television (Pvt) Limited and Priyanga Hapugalle, Chief Executive Officer of Direct Solutions, were invested.

This year, 23 special prizes were awarded to those who had obtained “A” grade passes for different modules at the June and December 2007 examinations.

The Chairman’s medal which was introduced for the best stage performance was awarded to Zaki Ershad Tunku Ousmand for achieving “A” grades for all four modules of the CIM Professional Certificate in Marketing.

The Chief Guest at the ceremony, Vice Chancellor of the University of Sri Jayewardanapura Professor Narada Warnasuriya addressing the audience stated that in a knowledge society, universities and professional institutes complement each other in providing a highly trained workforce for the industry.

He stated that the State universities alone cannot achieve this and recognised the contribution of professional institutes such as CIM and CIMA in achieving this objective. Chairman, CIM Sri Lanka Region Shiraz Latiff stated that “Marketing is now at the very heart of the business and accepted as the competitive differentiator in these globally challenging times.

As marketers, we are required to understand the business and our role in delivering strategic business objectives. We have to take on board other business issues such as social responsibility, reputation management and increasingly demanding stakeholder communications”

Head of Education of CIM Sri Lanka Region Ajith Medis presenting the report for 2007 revealed that Sri Lanka has been able to achieve a pass rate of 51.28 per cent and 53.91 per cent at the June and December 2007 examinations respectively and acknowledged the contribution of the CIM Accredited Study Centres towards this.

HRM a distinct discipline today

The HR profession has been subjected to radical changes in the recent past transforming from its traditional role of recruitment, salary administration, discipline and termination to much demanding role of becoming a strategic partner thus adding value to the bottom-line and helps deliver organisational excellence, President IPM Sri Lanka Lalith Wijetunga said at the awards ceremony of the IPM Diplomates held at Trans Asia Hotel recently.

He said that as Human Resource Management has now emerged as a distinct discipline like any other profession the days anybody could be a HR practitioner is no longer a reality.

For successful practice of Human Resource Management, the student requires to achieve certain standards of knowledge and competence The Business School of the Institute conducts study programmes of different levels to meet the requirements of the HR profession, he said.

The student population at any given time is around 1250 which is indicative of the interest the Sri Lankan students have shown in embarking in a career in HR. and the IPM is in the process of collaborating with the Open University of Sri Lanka to launch a MBA programme in Human Resource Management.

The twin revolution in the sphere of globalisation and Information Technology have brought about stiff competition in the business arena along with new challenges such as productivity crisis, retention and management of talents, new forms of employment, changing aspirations of employees How organisations manage the “Human factor” has become critical to organisations and its effective management provides the competitive advantage over the competitors.

Wijetunga pointed out that the twin revolution in the sphere of globalisation and Information Technology have brought about stiff competition in business arena along with new challenges such as productivity crisis, retention and management of talents, and how organisations manage the ‘Human factor’ has become critical to organisations and its effective management provides the competitive advantage over the competitors.

Over 100 diplomates received certificates at this event and Managing Director Cornucopia Dinesh Weerakkody was awarded the honourary membership of the IPM. Minister of Public Administration Karu Jayasuriya was the chief guest and Chairman Ceylon Tobacco Ltd J.D. Bandaranaike was the guest of honour.

Gateway launches graduate school

Gateway launched their Graduate School of Education in the presence of a distinguished gathering. The School was declared open by the Chief Guest Dr. Peter Hayes, High Commissioner for Great Britain, while the Guest of Honour was Gill Westaway, Director of the British Council.

Also present at the opening was Manager Academic support of NCC Education, Andrew Rennie.

The Gateway Graduate School, in partnership with NCC Education UK, will initially offer a choice of two career pathways to complete Degrees from the University of Wales, here in Sri Lanka. Situated in close proximity to Gateway College, Rajagiriya, the Campus consists of state-of-the-art facilities for modern teaching, sports and recreation. Speaking at the opening, Chairman Gateway Group, R. I. T.

Alles said that over the years, Gateway had built up a reputation for being not just one of the largest educational organisations in Sri Lanka, but one of the most trusted as well.

“We have the distinction of producing educational programmes that have been certified or endorsed by leading training providers in the UK, while we also carry out specialised programmes in association with strategic partners in the UK.

We have invested heavily in the field of education over the years [ in excess of R 1 billion ] with teacher training taking pride of place.

Today our staff strength exceeds 800 and we are proud to welcome on board as the Governor of the Gateway Graduate School, none other than one of the leading figures in the field of education in this country, Vidya Jyothi Emeritus Professor Dayantha Wijayasekera; who as a former Vice Chancellor of two esteemed Universities - the University of Moratuwa and the Open University of Sri Lanka, brings a wealth of experience, not only as a renowned educationist, but as an institution builder as well.”

CBSL brings Del Pe

Master Del Pe will be back to conduct several leading-edge programmes at the Centre for Banking Studies of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka.

He is an internationally renowned corporate guru, world founder of Energy Medicine, creator of the Wisdom MBA programme, and author of several best-sellers such as From Success to Fulfilment.

He combines eastern wisdom with western management science to provide a totally new perspective on business and individual success, founded on human energy and personal fulfilment. Del Pe is a trainer and advisor to many world leaders, governments, CEOs, university heads, and the 2004 US Olympic diving team.

He has worked in 75 countries and mentored thousands of professionals in major organisations such as The World Bank, United Nations, Colgate-Palmolive, IBM, Hewlett Packard, Sony, Coca-Cola and McCann Erickson.

He has helped them evolve as Transformational Leaders by boosting, balancing and aligning their physical, mental, emotional and spiritual energies. More details can be found in www.glocen.com

His Top Management Briefing on Thursday August 14 from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. is on ‘A new business psychology to boost corporate and individual performance’.

He will present a universally applicable Triad of Power that governs corporate and individual success, and explain how to use it to improve personal leadership and performance, and quality of life.

All CEO’s, top managers and senior executives are invited to this free evening presentation, which requires prior registration since places are limited.

All the programmes will be held at the Centre for Banking Studies, Sri Jayawardenapura Mawatha, Rajagiriya (on Parliament road, next to LOLC building).