EDEX

EDEX Expo 2011 showcases career path

Education for economic success:

Sanjeevi Jayasuriya

The link between education and economic success is well documented. Education and skills are key to future success in life, essentially in the wake of rapidly enhancing world-class education in knowledge-based economies, EDEX project Chairman Kamal Abeysinghe said.

“Education unlocks so many doors and can be one of the most invaluable, amazing experiences of a person’s life, regardless of any divides. But at the post secondary stage our students face numerous challenges due to limited opportunities,” he said. “Rising above the senseless strife that once plagued our nation, today we have rekindled our hopes for social integration. A journey has begun in the pursuit of economic prosperity after 30 years,” he said.

An ambitious climate is being fashioned, for an accelerated economic growth which is unprecedented in the recent history.

The Government has set out a clear vision to transform Sri Lanka to be the Wonder of Asia. The main approach is to create a five fold hubs in naval, aviation, trade and commerce, energy and knowledge including education and IT. We want our per capita income doubled to be over US $ 4,000 by 2016. We should be happy that both the “vision and the will” to get there have dawned upon us, when the socio economic as well as political dynamics are mostly weighing in our favour.”

With the GCE Advanced Level examination results being released and the GCE Ordinary Level examination being just concluded, it’s an opportune time for the aspiring youth and parents to get an in-depth insight into the education and career options available.

“This is why we present the eighth EDEX Expo 2011, bringing the best in class choices, options and opportunities in post secondary education to employment in a single platform on a nationwide scale,” Abeysinghe said.

Flashback from EDEX2010

EDEX 2011, the national higher education and careers expo will be held from January 22 to 24 in Colombo and on January 26 and 27 in Kandy.

The Colombo exhibition will display 240 educational stalls and will be open from 10 am to 7 pm while the exhibitions in Kandy will be open from 9 am to 6 pm displaying 60 stalls.

The exhibition will comprise both local and foreign educational institutes. There will be over 300 foreign universities from over 20 countries represented directly or through an agent at this exhibition.

The stalls include domestic pavilion, careers pavilion, international pavilion, green pavilion and one stop web portal. There will be spot admissions to foreign universities, scholarship on offer and seminar programs for students. EDEX Think Green campaign and EDEX Green Zone at the Colombo event introduced two years ago will continue to educate, activate and engage our youth towards sustainable living. Winning entries of EDEX Sithuwam, the islandwide art competition held to coincide with this event will also be on display at the Colombo Expo.

With much anticipated economic boom in the country an increased demand for a well-educated workforce is very much on the cards.

“To participate in today’s workforce and certainly tomorrow’s, one needs to seriously maintain his or her skills set at the highest level and continue education, be it formal classroom training, self studies, on-line studies, on-the-job training or re-training for new jobs. Our youth need to realize that, today their success is not guaranteed, even after a university degree, without engaging in lifelong learning and continuous honing of skills,” he said.

EDEX opens doors to aspiring youth with multifarious talents and offers the chance to craft a better tomorrow through an array of world class education, skills development and vocational training choices which we believe will help the actualization of our desired vision to empower Sri Lankan youth to be globally competitive, Abeysinghe said.

Launched in 2004, EDEX has been a pathfinder in youth empowerment, offering a blend of best in class choices, options and opportunities available locally and overseas in a single platform for right education and skills development leading to gainful employment.

Mitsubishi to launch eight new green cars by 2016

Japan's Mitsubishi Motors said Thursday it would launch a new line-up of environmentally friendly cars by March 2016 and double operating profit in the next three years by focusing on emerging markets.

Mitsubishi will launch a total of eight electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids, starting with a mini commercial vehicle, the MINICAB-MiEV, the company said as it unveiled a new mid-term business plan.

Japan's fourth-largest automaker launched the i-MiEV, the world's first commercially produced electric vehicle, in 2009 and the race to manufacture greener cars has heated up among rivals such as Nissan, Toyota and Ford.

The new models will also include Mitsubishi's first plug-in gasoline-electric hybrid vehicles, to be rolled out in the fiscal year starting April 2012 as it looks to boost emerging market production to target growth.

It aims to double operating profit to 90 billion yen ($1.10 billion) in the year to March 2014 and triple net profit to 45 billion yen.

Mitsubishi hopes the new business strategy, which also includes cost cuts, will boost its earnings as it looks to expand its China business through a new joint venture with a local partner.

"There is huge domestic demand in China and people's living standards are rapidly improving. I believe there is no major doubt that China will continue to grow," company president Osamu Masuko told reporters.

The automaker said it would build a third factory in Thailand in fiscal 2011, making the nation the company's second-largest export hub after Japan, and produce a low-price, energy-efficient compact for the growing middle class.

Mitsubishi will also increase capacity in China and Brazil, and begin full-scale production of sport-utility vehicles in Russia.

Masuko said his company wants to maintain its production level in Japan but acknowledged it is "very difficult to keep the current export-oriented structure and expand output and capacity in Japan."

"We have to produce cars where consumers are and where there are less foreign exchange risks," he said.

For many Japanese automakers, the yen's surge against the dollar and the euro has eaten into profits and made exporting from Japan less profitable.

More companies are considering moving production abroad to stay competitive against rivals benefiting from weaker currencies in their home countries.

Mitsubishi's ratio of overseas production to total output is expected to rise to 54 percent in the fiscal year 2013 from 44 percent in fiscal 2010.

Global output is to soar to 1.58 million units from 1.1 million in the same period, the company said.

It targets sales of 2.5 trillion yen in fiscal 2013, up from 1.9 trillion yen expected for fiscal 2010 ending in March 2011.

Mitsubishi shares closed higher Thursday, up 1.69 percent at 120 yen, outperforming a 1.13 percent rise in the benchmark Nikkei index.

AFP

Taiwan export orders up

Taiwanese export orders hit a historical high of $406.72 billion in 2010 on strong demand for computers, smartphones and other consumer electronic products, the government said Thursday. The amount marked an increase of 26.1 percent over the previous year, the economic ministry said in a statement.

"With the global financial crisis easing and the world's economies starting to recover from the fourth quarter of 2009, the value of export orders hit a historical high," it said.

Last year the tech-savvy island received $100.6 billion worth of orders for IT and telecommunication products, up 26.8 percent year-on-year, as well as $99.4 billion worth of electronic products, up 27.0 percent. In December alone, the value of export orders also hit a monthly record $36.6 billion, up $4.8 billion, or an increase of 15.3 percent year-on-year, it said.

Orders from China, the island's leading trade partner, for the first time broke the $100 billion-level to reach $109.1 billion for the full year of 2010. The figure represented growth of 27.2 percent year-on-year.

Orders from the United States increased 18.8 percent to $86.7 billion while those from Europe rose 24.7 percent to $71.7 billion as electronic product demand from the two regions gained momentum from the second half of last year.

AFP

Sony Ericsson back in black in 2010

Mobile phone manufacturer Sony Ericsson on Thursday reported a return to profit in 2010 thanks to its Android-based smartphones but its fourth quarter earnings and sales fell far short of analyst expectations.

The Japanese-Swedish group, now the sixth-biggest player in the global market, said that in the three months to December it made a net profit of just eight million euros ($10.8 million) on sales down 13 percent at 1.53 billion euros.

While the net profit was a vast improvement over the 167-million-euro loss posted in fourth quarter 2009, it missed analyst estimates polled by the Dow Jones Newswires, which averaged 68 million euros.

The company's fourth quarter sales also fell far short of analyst expectations of 1.75 billion euros.

For all of 2010, the picture was a bit brighter, with a net profit of 90 million euros (121 million dollars), after a net loss 836 million in 2009. However, full-year sales were down seven percent to 6.29 billion euros.

In its efforts to return to profit, Sony Ericsson has over the past year laid off some 4,000 employees and has refocused its business on smart phones based on the Android platform developed by Google.

Last year "was a turnaround year for Sony Ericsson. Our four consecutive quarters of profit reflect the success of our shift towards an Android-based smartphone portfolio," company president and chief executive Bert Nordberg said in the earnings statement.

AFP

ECB warns of rising food prices

The European Central Bank added its voice Thursday to those calling attention to rising food prices, warning that it was not sure greater supply would be able to limit future increases. In 2010, wheat prices soared 91 percent owing to "supply disruptions and adverse weather conditions, along with protectionist threats," the ECB said in its monthly bulletin for January.

Maize prices were 57 percent higher at the end of last year, soybeans jumped 33 percent and sugar 32 percent, it added. Price pressures would remain strong owing to growing demand for commodities both for food and as a key component in biofuels, the ECB said. Although the capacity to produce more food could also increase, "there remains significant uncertainty about the extent and pace of the ability of supply to meet the expected rise in demand and thereby help to limit the rise in food prices," it warned.

The world has became complacent about global food concerns owing to stable prices during the past 30 years, it said.

AFP