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SLTC Founder President and CEO Eng. Ranjith Rubasinghe
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The pandemic has highlighted the volatility and uncertainty that is the modus operandi of a world so closely knitted by globalisation. This has had a resounding impact on the education sphere, where the need to be qualified and geared with transferable 21st-century skills is more critical, now more than ever.
For Sri Lanka Technological Campus (SLTC) – Sri Lanka’s pioneering education solutions provider in foreign qualifications in technology and related disciplines, the onset of the pandemic has brought about a new vigour in its mission to offer the highest quality international education to Sri Lankan students, through an agreement signed between SLTC and Deakin University that will broaden the prospects of local students to gain globally accredited qualifications and employment opportunities.
The SLTC-Deakin partnership has several key areas of co-operation that unlocks the potential of providing a framework for greater collaboration between the two parties. Facilitated by Sri Lankan-born academic Prof. Bas Baskaran – Associate Dean – International and Partnerships of the Faculty of Science, Engineering and Built Environment at Deakin University, the partnership enables students enrolling in the Deakin University programs offered with SLTC, to be considered internal students of the Australian university, with access to the authentic ‘Deakin Experience’ via Deakin’s Cloud Campus.
Considered as Deakin students from Day One, with direct access given to all resources including Deakin faculty and Deakin’s support services, which are the same given to on-campus students in Australia, it creates opportunities for authentic learning experiences, forming an invaluable part the students education, as well as offering international job opportunities.
SLTC Founder President and CEO Eng. Ranjith Rubasinghe said, “Partnerships of this calibre allows us to make real progress on our goal of building new pathways that provide better access to quality international education for our students in Sri Lanka. As we battle the ongoing impact of the global pandemic, it’s more important than ever to ensure our students have access to opportunities to learn, upskill and obtain qualifications that will provide them increased access to further education pathways and job opportunities, not just locally but also on an international scale. As such, we strongly believe that our partnership with Deakin will help achieve a vibrant future for our young people. Significant partnerships like this have the potential to create a positive impact for many years to come.”
As a part of this partnership SLTC has been able to offer many benefits to local students, with the latest of these being a guaranteed 50% tuition fee discount (approximately 2.6 million Sri Lankan rupees discount per year) for the entire duration of their study online in Sri Lanka. With Deakin University being a highly sought after campus, ranked among the top 1% universities worldwide by The Academic Ranking of World Universities (Shanghai Rankings), SLTC is offering the 50% scholarship to encourage and incentivise school-leavers to pursue higher education in technology-related subjects. Whilst this offer was aimed at making education affordable and accessible, SLTC is also pursuing more meaningful collaborations within the year to expand its offering.
In addition, furthering its commitment to quality education, SLTC also launched its Centre for Global Education (CGE) early this year to serve as an education hub for faculty and students. “The CGE is dedicated to globalising research, teaching and outreach missions, facilitating direct transfers and assisting students upon request to leverage competencies to meet global expectations,” states Rubasinghe.
He further explained, “The value of acclaimed, internationally recognised degrees are priceless in today’s ever-changing environment, which is why SLTC continues to develop and nurture partnerships with some of the world’s leading universities, like Deakin University, Australia, so that we can offer the best study programs that is available globally to our students.”