Education

SLIIT students receive Honours from SHU, UK

Sixty-two students from the Sri Lanka Institute of Information Technology have graduated from the Sheffield Hallam University, UK at its recent Convocation.

The batch of 62 students, the third batch, forms the largest SLIIT transfer student group to date. All these students received First and Second class Honours Degrees in the fields of Information Technology (IT), Software Engineering and Computer Systems and Networking.

"We are proud of our third batch of students who have performed exceptionally well at SHU," said Managing Director / CEO of SLIIT, Professor Lalith Gamage. "Thirteen of our students obtained first class Honours, another 33 received Second class Honours, Upper division and another 16 obtained Second class Honours, Lower Division passes. We place great emphasis on the quality of our education programs and our graduates.

This is strong evidence as to why and how SLIIT students graduate with flying colours in the SHU graduation each year. I take this opportunity to congratulate our students and to wish them best of luck in their future endeavors" he went on to say.

Chairman and President of SLIIT Professor S. Karunaratne said "SLIIT is committed to bringing the best of education and training in IT and Business Management not only to its regular students but also to a wide cross section of our society. Our commitment is reflected in the exemplary performance of our students at the SHU Graduation," he concluded.

SLIIT has been in formal partnership with SHU since year 2006. SHU is the sixth largest education institution in the United Kingdom. It is one of UK's most progressive and innovative universities with a vibrant and diverse student population and partnerships across the world. SHU has earned an excellent reputation for the quality of their teaching and applied research.

At present SHU offers several courses for SLIIT students in the Summer Semester Program and Continuation Master Scheme. The three courses that allow students to top up their studies to a UK Honours Degree are in Information Technology, Computer Systems and Networking and Software Engineering. The latest addition has been a Bachelor's Degree in Business Administration, which the students can complete entirely at SLIIT or transfer to SHU for the final year if they so wish.

According to the agreement between SLIIT and SHU, students of SLIIT specializing in IT, Information Systems (IS) and Computer Systems and Networking (CSN) will have the opportunity to study for two and a half years at SLIIT and proceed to SHU for a summer term to obtain their BSc. Honours Degree qualification in the respective disciplines.

After successful completion of the degree, the students are eligible to enter a Post Study Work scheme in UK for two years initially. Students of this program receive a large discount in their tuition fees if they were to study towards a Masters degree at SHU. When it comes to the transferring nitty-gritty SLIIT offers the full service of screening applications, preparation for visa, coordinating accommodation, etc. This collaboration has allowed suitably qualified SLIIT students to experience an excellent learning opportunity.

SLIIT was established in 1999 and is approved by the University Grants Commission of Sri Lanka as a degree awarding institute under the Universities Act. SLIIT has over 100 academic and professional staff members in its regular cadre and continue to recruit highly qualified and dedicated academics and professionals to ensure proper dissemination of knowledge.

SLIIT conducts programs of studies leading to BSc. Special Honours degrees, BSc. Degrees, MSc. Degrees and Post Graduate Diplomas in IT, CSN, IS, Information Management, and Business Management. These programs are carefully designed to meet industry requirements which in turn make SLIIT students highly employable.

A number of industry certified programs are also conducted in partnership with Microsoft, IBM, CISCO Systems, etc.

How IT changed my life - V:

'Passion and commitment matters in IT'

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Ashan Kumar meets Manager Operations hSenid Mobile Solutions (Pvt) Ltd, Dumidu Nayanamithra, to understand How 'IT' changed his life...

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Dumidu Nayanamithra possessed a childhood dream of being a journalist with the intention to travel to all parts of the world.

An old boy of Dharmaraja College Kandy who studied Biology for his A/Ls, he is from a middle class family where both the parents were government servants who did not have any idea about IT.

He recalls "I didn't have any exposure to the IT field until I completed my A/Ls". I asked him how he got exposed to the IT field. He answered "My initial IT exposure was at IDM, Kandy where I did my initial "Computer Course". Then moved to Colombo and enrolled at NIBM (National Institute of Business Management) where I did the Diploma and Higher Diploma. After which I completed my first degree at NIBM, offered by National University of Ireland. Later I did a Masters Degree in IT at the University of Colombo, School of Computing (UCSC). I queried further and he explained "After completing my A/Ls, I was thinking about various career paths. I became very frustrated with my A/L results and during this period I did my own research where I used to refer all vacancy advertisements in weekend papers and I found out that Accounting and Computing has a lot of opportunities out in the market.

I also discussed the opportunities, the challenges, benefits and disadvantages with several professionals who were already in the related professions. I realized there were immense opportunities and avenues to develop my career in the IT sphere and this will be the path for my life. The new technologies, the rapid changes in the industry and the opportunities at that time were the decision points for me. Also I realized there were lots of different paths within IT which I could choose in my journey forward. (Software developments, Quality assurance, Graphics, Hardware and networking, Database systems, IT Security, Project Management).

No doubt IT has made a great change in Dumidu's life; he said, "Having an educational background in bio-science, I was able to gain an IT qualification without much struggle. I toiled hard during the initial two years to gain the knowledge, and understand the subject. I had the determination and passion to succeed as an IT professional, I was able to lay that extra effort and gain the necessary knowledge and qualifications. Eight years back I started my career as a Trainee Analyst Programmer with hSenid and today I'm serving as the Operations Manager at hSenid Mobile Solutions".

He went on describing his rapid development "During the past eight years I have gone through several changes within the Software domain. The initial two to three years, I was into software development using Microsoft based technologies, basically Human Resource Management and Payroll solutions. I slowly moved to Project Management, where I had to manage small development teams while interacting with the clients. My next move was to account management and Pre-sales where I received an immense amount of foreign exposure since the company was expanding to new markets. I got the chance to work with international clients while promoting hSenid solutions in new markets. By this time hSenid asked me to focus more towards mobile solutions and I had gain knowledge in mobile technologies and tools. Having a Microsoft background with an HR domain knowledge, I had to gain knowledge in Java and Mobile technologies in order to work with mobile solutions. I served as a Project Manager for hSenid Mobile Solutions for two years and then moved on to be the Operations Manager".

"Looking back at the briskly paced eight years, I'm really happy about the career progression and the exposure I gained through hSenid. hSenid was a key factor during the last eight years and the work was always challenging and interesting. Travelling was part of the job which I enjoyed very much. I managed to balance my academic life where I was able to complete both my Bachelors Degree and Masters Degree while working full-time".

To the question "why should anyone choose IT as a profession, he replied "If you have the real interest and passion about IT, you can gain the required knowledge and be a professional in the industry. One need not be very bright to grasp their knowledge in IT. What matters is your passion and commitment. There are countless opportunities out there and new prospects are being created as we speak. This is an industry which is rapidly escalating to the peak. Access to knowledge and new skills is easy in the IT industry when comparing to other domains. He topped it off with this line, "Your exposure to the industry is very wide and you can stay in touch with the industry easily as this is Information Technology".

New trustee appointed for CIM Int'nl Board of Trustees

Former Regional Director - South Asia of The Chartered Institute of Marketing, Suren R. Rajanathan, was elected to the CIM International Broad of Trustees (IBT) at its elections held recently. Rajanathan is Sri Lanka Region's second elected member to the IBT; the first having been Dr. Uditha Liyanage.

Rajanathan, a Chartered Marketer, has served in the CIM Sri Lanka Region's Management Committee for almost eleven years and was Chairman during 2004/2005 and 2005/2006. Under his stewardship, in both 2005 and 2006, CIM Sri Lanka Region secured the award for the "CIM Best Managed Region" at the CIM International Chairmen's Conference.

Counting over 18 years of experience in marketing in multinational companies, Rajanathan has served as Managing Director of the Health Care Sector of Hemas Holdings Ltd and at General Electric (GE) Health Care as Country Manager for Sri Lanka and the Maldives within that period.

Today, he is the General Manager of 3M Sri Lanka. Rajanathan is a six sigma trained Green Belt Certified Manager of General Electric and is a Member of The Chartered Institute of Marketing, UK. He has an MBA from the Postgraduate Institute of Management, University of Sri Jayawardenepura.

Speaking of his new appointment, Rajanathan conveyed his sincere gratitude to the CIM members who voted for him and for the confidence that they have placed in him. He stated that CIM Sri Lanka Region being the largest CIM Region outside UK with nearly 1200 professional members and 3000 studying members, it is important that we have representation and a strong voice in the International Board of Trustees which is the supreme governing body of The Chartered Institute of Marketing.