EDUCATION

EDEX Careers to hold seminar

EDEX Careers, the career guidance and counseling arm of EDEX will hold a seminar on its interactive web portal at the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce main auditorium on Thursday December 6, 2012 from 2.30 pm. This seminar is held in association with the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce, World University Services Canada (WUSC) and Sri Lanka Business Development Centre.

EDEX Careers portal is designed to provide a one stop web platform that consistently and reliably enables users to access and update their data, connect school leavers with tertiary education and training as well as career aspirants with jobs available, while enabling institutes and employers to connect with people interested in study courses, training or job opportunities offered by them.

The website has recently added a new facility to connect those with NVQ qualification with a wide array of suitable jobs available. This facility will be a boon to employers and job seekers alike as a new feature of auto search and matching of applicants with jobs on offer has been added.

For graduates and even those employed, EDEX Careers provides access to a wide job market and viable alternative employment opportunities through further training in specific skill areas. New opportunities through part time or full time courses in vocational training or higher education from local and foreign institutions are also made available to the unemployed.

It also serves vocational training and higher educational institutes by providing them with opportunities to directly communicate information on available courses to a large pool of prospective candidates who are most likely to follow these courses in the near future.

Employers can match a candidate's profile with specific skills and qualifications required for a job online at the EDEX Careers web portal. They can also receive a list of most suitable CVs based on criteria provided, minimizing time, resources and recruitment costs to screen the best.

EDEX Careers portal offers facilities to submit CVs online with preferred career paths, online entry of higher education and vocational training course details, profiling of job opportunities, notifications on latest courses and job information and many other web links to specialist sources such as language skills and writing resources, presentations and speeches, tips on how to pass exams, scholarships and grants, country education websites, VISA assistance.

Virtusa, one of the leading software development companies in Sri Lanka, is the Information Technology Partner of EDEX who develops and maintains the EDEX Careers portal.

McGraw-Hill to spin off education unit for $2.5 bn

McGraw-Hill said it agreed to sell its education unit for $2.5 billion, allowing the group to focus on financial operations including its Standard and Poor's brand.

The deal calls for McGraw-Hill Education, which produces textbooks and digital educational materials, to be sold to investors led by Apollo Global Management, in a sale expected to close in late 2012 or early 2013.

After closing, McGraw-Hill will be renamed McGraw Hill Financial, and will concentrate on its brands including Standard & Poor's, S&P Dow Jones Indices, S&P Capital IQ, Platts and JD Power and Associates.

"Today's transaction marks a transformative time for our company, shareholders, customers and employees,"said Harold McGraw III, chairman and chief executive of The McGraw-Hill Companies.

"This move builds on McGraw-Hill's strong legacy and gives us an unprecedented opportunity to focus on accelerating the growth of our iconic brands and leading franchises.

"As technology produces more and more data in a complex world, our leading brands provide essential intelligence and independent benchmarks across asset classes and markets."

McGraw-Hill said its remaining assets will make it "a high-growth, high-margin benchmarks, content and analytics company in the global capital and commodities markets." Without the education unit, McGraw-Hill will have customers in more than 150 countries and revenue of approximately $4.4 billion.

AFP

JIT group to launch SAP Academy

The Just In Time Group (JIT) in collaboration with SAP India (Pvt) Ltd will launch the first ever Sri Lankan owned SAP Academy in the country on December 4, 2012. The SAP Academy will be located in the IIHE Campus premises at Station Road, Tower Building in Colombo 4. The IIHE campus is a fully equipped state of the art facility with a separate fully fledged SAP Academy with a comprehensive range of certified courses.

SAP AG is a German multinational corporation which is the parent company of SAP software solutions; they are the world leader in enterprise software and software-related services. SAP is the number one software solution in the world with a broad clientele of top notch global entities that functions through SAP solutions.

JIT has partnered with SAP India to launch the SAP Academy with the focus of building a network of SAP professionals. Fulfilling the needs for SAP qualified professionals in the global job market. The SAP certificate offers a range of benefits to students.

These include a competitive advantage in the global job market and the ability to enhance employability. Visa and migration opportunities are another benefit and qualified SAP consultants are the highest paid consultants in the world.

The course has been designed and developed directly by SAP's Educational Services. It is a globally accepted professional qualification which is highly recognized in world class organizations. SAP Education is the ideal platform to instill knowledge and skills which the employees require to fulfill the strategic goals of a company.

The SAP Academy offers the complete suite of courses designed to help leverage the use of SAP solutions. The coursework at the academy offers in depth discussions and solutions on how to advance your business.

There are two training methodologies used at the SAP Academy which are classroom training and virtual training.

The classroom training is led by a SAP consultant from overseas who is proficient in product knowledge and experience.

The online training course offers more flexibility to the student and promotes self learning. But the course content for both programmes is identical. The login facility for the online course is also available at the SAP Academy. "The focus of JIT is to clear the void for SAP professionals in the local and international job markets. This is a unique opportunity for students to earn a world class professional qualification of this caliber right here in Sri Lanka.

"As a SAP business partner promoting SAP vertical specific solutions, ERP, BI and mobile financial solutions to many verticals, JIT has made arrangements with some of the SAP customers to offer placements for SAP Academy students," stated by Kavinda Mahawedage, Head of Marketing - JIT Group.