EDUCATION / NEWS
UGC should encourage foreign students - Dean
Ramani Kangaraarachchi
“The inability to accommodate international students to the Colombo
University is a lost opportunity to the country .On the other hand the
State has not been able to give opportunity to affordable parents’
children to enter the university and as a result they go abroad,” Dean
Faculty of Management and Finance Dr. P. S. M. Gunaratne told the Daily
News Business.
The country is losing huge amounts of foreign exchange as a result of
this unfortunate situation. There is a huge potential to get
international students if the University Grant Commission (UGC) permits.
Dr. P. S. M. Gunaratne |
However poor people are also paying taxes for somebody else without
their knowledge. Therefore a kind of rationalisation in the system is
required,” he said.
Elaborating on the quality of the MBA programme at the University of
Colombo he said the faculty maintains constant relationship with
prospective employees for assignments to find facts from the industry.
Unlike in the earlier days the faculty gives marks for assignments where
they get natural exposure.
Visiting Faculty with PHD qualification come from the industry to
keep up the standards. Another significant thing is that there are
enough employment opportunities for the students of the Management
Faculty. The Faculty runs three types of courses, discipline,
environmental and skills.
He said private sector service economy is expanding and they need a
lot of people and it is necessary to train the people. The programme
helps to improve skills and knowledge and the participants pay for it.
The Faculty of Finance and Management is the youngest Faculty of the
University of Colombo established in 1994 to cater for the increasing
student population and rapidly growing needs of the Sri Lankan business
community.
During the last few years the undergraduate population of the Faculty
has grown rapidly. In 2007, the total number of undergraduates
registered in the Faculty exceeded 1600, according to Dr. Gunaratne.
The Faculty has six academic departments, namely Department of
Accounting, Business Economics, Finance ,Human Resource Management ,
Marketing and Management and Organisational Studies. In addition to the
departmental structure, which provides academic leadership in different
disciplines, the Faculty has created a separate division. Post Graduate
and Mid career Development to coordinate all its postgraduate and
extension programmes conducted by the Faculty.
The EDUNIVERSAL listed the Faculty of Management and Finance,
University of Colombo among the 1000 best worldwide business
schools(2008). It is the only Management Faculty Institution in Sri
Lanka which reached this cardinal height in academia.
September 12, 2008 marked yet another milestone of the Ceylinco
Sussex College Branch of Bandarawela as the foundation stone was laid
for the new wing of the college. The project worth Rs. 70 million was
initiated by Deputy Chairman of Ceylinco Educational and Financial
Services K. A. S. Jayatissa in order to facilitate the students with a
fully fledged, four storied building complex for the growing student
population of CSC - Bandarawela.
Laying the foundation stone for the new wing. |
Inaugurated on the third of October 2005, CSC - Bandarawela has
redefined English Medium education in the region being the pioneer in
bringing the local curriculum in the international language for the Sri
Lankan students.
A part of the well reputed CSC islandwide network that is well
equipped with all academic facilities: A skilled language teaching unit,
fully geared computer labs and sporting facilities, CSC - Bandarawela is
the first one of its kind in the district. Seasoned academic staff is
stationed even at the off bound branches such as this with exceptional
lodging facilities.
In the year 2007 and 2008 the talented students of CSC Bandarawela
managed to secure the positions of champion and runner up in track and
field category as well as High Jump category in zonal and provincial
levels.
Students of the college has also demonstrated outstanding performance
in Chess, Music and English langauge competitions in zonal, provincial
and all island levels.
A feature that demarcates the innovative perception of the college -
“Link Language system” operates within CSC Bandarawela as well, in which
it is mandatory for each student to learn another language other than
the mother tongue.
For instance all Sinhala students are to learn Tamil while it is
compulsory for the Tamil students to learn Sinhala. This certainly
breaks the ice between students belonging to different racial and
cultural backgrounds at a very early age.
Ceylinco Sussex College is an ISO 9001:2000 certified institution and
a National Productivity Award Winner consecutively for years 2006 and
2007. Their mission is to create Global Personalities out of Sri Lankan
students with a Sri Lankan identity while preserving their cultural
heritage and values.
ICBT Campus - Graduation 2008
ICBT Campus held its annual graduation ceremony at the BMICH recently
with over 450 students graduating in areas such as Computing, Business
Management, Master of Business Administration, Teaching Technology,
Montessori Teacher Eduction and Quantity Surveying.
The graduation ceremony was attended by Professor Michael Driscoll,
Vice-Chancellor, Dr. Terry Butland Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Richard
Comely, Prof. Raj Gill all from Middlesex University UK. Ms. Monika
Borek, from Modern Montessori International - Singapore, Ishan Siddique,
Country Manager/Edexcel International UK and Jagath Alwis Deputy
Chairman, Ceylinco Education Group.
ICBT Campus is the leader in private sector education sector in Sri
lanka offering a range of educational programmes in association with
some of the best universities and educational service providers in
Australia, UK. The main ICBT Campus is located in Mount Lavinia with
Branches in Bambalapitiya, Kandy and Matara. All Campuses feature
state-of-the art facilities providing the best learning experience to
students.
PLC Islamic Financial Services Unit a success
Islamic Financial Services Unit enjoyed an excellent growth rate in
its operations and customer base over the past three years. Of the
Sharia complaint product range, the Ijarah or Islamic leasing achieved
an outstanding record of success.
The Ijarah facility is based on the principle of the financial
institute purchasing an asset for its customer and leasing it to him
over a specified period of time with the promise that at the end of the
period, the institution will either sell or gift the good to the
customer.
Ijarah revenue stood at Rs. 105.5 million last March with a Gross
Receivable Portfolio exceeding Rs. 902 million that covers over 370
active vehicle contracts, making PLC the market leader in Islamic
leasing.
Islamic Financial Services Unit (IFSU) of People’s Leasing Company
(PLC) was established in October 2005 and commenced operations in
January 2006, as a window office of its large and well established
holding company PLC.
Today, the unit claims unrivalled success as a customer driven entity
which provides innovative Islamic financial solutions that are in
compliance with the Islamic doctrine, also known as Shari’ah rulings on
finance, investment and trading.
PLC-IFSU also initiated Mudharaba investments whereby the investor
provides capital to the entrepreneur (IFSU) in order to undertake
business under the principle of profit sharing on a pre-agreed basis.
Other Sharia compliant facilities include Murahaba or cost plus
financing and Bai Bithaman or deferred payment sale. Pipelined products
designed to cater the rural sector, including microfinance facilities
are currently being developed by the Shari’ah Supervisory Board of PLC,
which consists of the islands leading Islamic scholars.
The Sri Lankan market for Shari’ah compliant instruments remain
attractive among both the Muslim community, who are at the fore of many
business activities.
With the anticipated regulatory changes expected to take place in the
near future, Sri Lanka is well placed to tap the surplus oil revenues
from the Middle East under Islamic financial facilities. This industry
continues to enjoy unprecedented growth in most part so the globe that
has rapidly accelerated since the turn of the new millennium.
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