SLIIT moulds young IT professionals

Sanjeevi JAYASURIYA

Sri Lanka Institute of Information Technology (SLIIT) is the premier higher education institute in the field of Information and Communication Technology in Sri Lanka producing quality graduates with a high level of employability.

“We provide students adequate information to apply and opportunities for young people to enter the IT industry. The school leavers need career guidance with knowledge and competence to secure jobs both locally as well as internationally. SLIIT creates an ideal platform for aspiring youth to forge ahead, SLIIT Chairman and Chancellor Professor S. Karunaratne told Daily News Business.

When SLIIT started, IT was at a very low level in the country where computer literacy was mere three percent. As no country could go forward with this kind of IT literacy, we were able to create awareness for the industry benefit. The ideal rate should be at least 50 percent and currently it is 30 percent. Many initiatives been taken to improve the level, he said.

“We wanted to have a quantum leap in the number of IT professionals in the country where local universities could not cater or cannot increase the number by ten times.

We aimed at having a dedicated IT institute and started with 400 students. Within two years we developed the Malambe Campus with an investment of Rs 500 million from the Mahapola Trust Fund. We could produce 1,000 professionals at a given time, he said.

We obtained a degree awarding certificate from the UGC. Within the past ten years we have produced 5,000 IT graduates and 15,000 IT professionals which accounts for 50 percent of the entire IT professionals in the country.

The annual intake ranges from 1,300 to 1,800 students and the institute works in public interest. The fees are affordable and could consider the lowest by the private sector institute.

“We are diversifying into other disciplines to provide a comprehensive educational package. Nearly 120 to 150 students follow the Masters program which is 10 percent of the annual intake.

There are three regional centres at present in Kandy, Matara and Jaffna and field test are being carried out to ascertain the market need before opening new SLIIT regional centres.

The degree programs are drawn up in close collaboration with foreign partner universities in Australia, United Kingdom and United States including Curtin University and Sheffield Hallam University to facilitate Sri Lankan students to obtain degrees of high distinction and global acceptance.

“The country produces 50 percent less than the required number of IT personnel. The requirement is 5,000 annually and the output is 2,000. There is scope for IT graduates not only related services, but also in non-IT sectors,” Prof Karunaratne said.

SLIIT is the only non-state university to be recognized and listed in the Association of Commonwealth Universities as a member.