IESL inaugurates 2011 engineering course

The Institution of Engineers, Sri Lanka (IESL), last week, inaugurated its five year, part-time engineering course which is recognized as an equivalent qualification to engineering degrees offered by state universities in Sri Lanka in fulfilling the academic qualification required to become a chartered engineer. From a batch of 260 applicants 175 students selected based on their G.C.E. Advanced Level 2009 results, resumed their Engineering career education at the Institution as the 2011 Intake.

As the apex body representing the engineering fraternity of Sri Lanka, the IESL has significantly revised the curriculum of this degree-equivalent course, to enhance its quality, relevance and effectiveness.

The course consists of five stages, running for five years for completion. The qualification is well recognized to obtain gainful and meaningful employment as a fully-fledged engineer, both in the Government and the private sector.

The associate membership of the institution could also be obtained on successful completion of this course. The theory classes of the course will be conducted at the Institution’s headquarters in Colombo, during the weekends, to enable students already employed, to follow the classes at ease. Practical and laboratory work will be conducted at the Moratuwa University and at the Open University of Sri Lanka.

The students will have the option of selecting the discipline of their choice, from either civil, electrical, mechanical, electronic, communication and computer engineering.

The Sri Lanka Institute of Information Technology (SLIIT) Chairman Eng Prof Sam Karunaratne, the chief guest at the inauguration, said that professional engineers created wealth for mankind as they laid the foundation for the modern society and belonged to a lucrative and prestigious category.

They are a class of people who are dynamic, ingenious and innovative, like to take up new and daunting challenges, and are inclined to engage in arduous and difficult tasks. Their profession endows them with the flexibility of choice, intellectual and personal development and leverage for entrepreneurship, Prof Karunaratna said.

IESL’s President Prof Ananda Jayawardane said that the IESL Engineering Course opened a ‘window of opportunity’ for those students who were deprived of gaining entry to the traditional engineering faculties of the country, due diverse reasons.

The IESL’s engineering course accommodates lateral entry and a multiple exit, leading to Engineering Certificate, Engineering Diploma and Graduate Diploma, Prof Jayawardane said. The Education and Training Committee Chairman Eng Shavindranath Fernando and Vice President Eng Tilak de Silva also spoke.