British Council organizes 'Looking forward'
An enterprise summit to help create a culture of economic value
through creative enterprise.
Innovation is the most critical success factor for businesses today.
However companies need people that are pioneering, or better put,
entrepreneurial themselves in order to be inventive. To this intent,
enterprise education is now increasingly being hailed as a legitimate
tool for wealth creation for a nation's economy; where its aim is to
develop in individuals (particularly the young) a set of skills and
attitudes that will allow them to be both job creators and highly
employable individuals, and help them contribute to the economy through
innovative value and knowledge creation.
The British Council is currently supporting Sri Lankan universities
to develop their enterprise education, and actively promote graduate
entrepreneurship through education partnerships with leading
entrepreneurial universities in the UK, and conducting enterprise
education programs and activities.
In partnership with SLASSCOM and with the sponsorship of Mobitel, one
such program organized by the British Council on this subject, "Looking
Forward", will take place on March 5, at the Galadari Hotel. This event
will seek to communicate and educate on the importance of developing and
sustaining entrepreneurship in Sri Lanka by looking at other countries
and benchmarking how they've created wealth for their country and the
industry by supporting an entrepreneurial culture.
British Council, Sri Lanka Country Director, Gill Westaway, said
"Partnerships between universities in the UK and Sri Lanka will lead to
significant development of enterprise education in Sri Lanka at an
institutional level. However Sri Lanka needs to develop a support
mechanism to sustain such development, especially beyond initial
funding, and also to ensure the sustainability of developing an
entrepreneurial culture within Sri Lankan universities and thereby
produce future employers who will create economic value through creative
and innovative enterprise. This is what we at the British Council hope
to do with 'Looking forward'."
The enterprise summit will feature key influential and knowledgeable
speakers on this topic; Chief Executive NCGE (The National Council for
Graduate Entrepreneurship) and board member of several organizations
including a large UK university Ian Robertson. Past winner of Britain's
biggest business enterprise competition live on television, Ian will
speak on how corporates will benefit by supporting enterprise education
via increase in entrepreneurship and creation of more employable
graduates.
Uva Wellassa University Vice Chancellor, Chandra Embuldeniya, who is
in partnership with various commercial and business organizations to
promote enterprise education in his university, will provide insights on
the benefits companies can gain by working with universities and
supporting enterprise education, such as outsourcing their research,
intellectual input and other requirements to these universities.
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