Another IIT success story: Zeinab Shabbir shines at Virtusa

As one of the pioneering higher education providers in Sri Lanka, the Informatics Institute of Technology (IIT) has been the prime choice for those who aspire to pursue a career in Information Technology (IT) and Business Management.

IIT has a longstanding reputation of consistently producing well-rounded professionals, who now occupy leading positions in several blue-chip companies in Sri Lanka and the world over. Since its inception, IIT has continued to work in collaboration with many leading universities and is currently affiliated to the University of Westminster (UK).

Over the years, these partnerships have led to and strengthened career opportunities for students due to their execution of high quality standards that best support the international business arena and the desire of talented people to have successful careers around the globe.

Considering its rate of success, former students of IIT are among the most sought after by corporate head hunters. Among these organisations is Virtusa Corporation, which is a preeminent industry leader that secures a track record of software solutions delivery success.

Virtusa Corporation is a global IT services company providing IT consulting, technology and outsourcing services. They serve Global 2000 companies and the leading software vendors in the communications and technology, banking and financial services, insurance, information and entertainment, media and telecommunications industries.

With a stringent recruitment process, Virtusa’s employment criteria assures that only the best and brightest join its multi-dimensional task force, while sourcing from a wide range of disciplines and fields. Today, many of IIT’s graduates occupy key positions within Virtusa, adding value to the organisation’s growing prestige and vouching for the triumphs of IIT.

Contributing to this success is a former student of IIT, Zeinab Shabbir, who was the Gold Medallist in the BSc (Hons) Information Systems with Business Management undergraduate degree programme in 2010. She is one of the very few who has set a record of obtaining all ‘A’ grades throughout her four years at IIT, scoring the highest average in all her academic years.

She currently works as a Business Consultant at Virtusa, oversees clients from markets such as the USA, Middle East, Europe and Asia and plays a lead role in developing and delivering business plans and software solutions to some of Virtusa’s key clients.

Zeinab said: “The undergraduate programme at IIT provided me with an insight into the both local and international businesses and that was key in my securing a role at Virtusa. Apart from my perpetual passion to pursue this field of education and profession, the overall experience I acquired at IIT gave me both the theoretical and practical knowledge that is so critical in carrying out my responsibilities successfully today.”

Speaking about the course content at IIT, she said: “IIT regularly reviews its curriculum by working closely with its educational partners and industry leaders to develop course content that harmonises with the economic state of affairs around the globe. The lecturers are not only academically qualified but also experts in their respective domains and are able to provide an in-depth insight into the theoretical as well as practical aspects of the curriculum to their students.”

Zeinab is now a part of this esteemed academic circle at IIT as a Visiting Lecturer, and also provides guidance to students with their Final Year Project Dissertations, ensuring that their work meets the standards of international quality.

Zeinab highlighted that one of the key factors that contributes to her achievements today, is the opportunity offered by IIT to take part in an internship programme during their undergraduate tenure. This allows students to work full time for an entire year, applying the knowledge and skills gained as a part of their education, in the actual corporate world. This, she says, allows students to take advantage of IIT’s corporate network and access a wealth of employment opportunities of their choice.

Zeinab established that she brought in the culmination of the work experience obtained during her internship as well as all the theoretical knowledge into her final year, where she developed ‘DysTS - An initiative to eradicate the inadequate treatment of dyslexia in Sri Lanka’. This was a revolutionary IT solution that used innovative teaching mechanisms which promised to enhance the productivity and learning experience of dyslexic children in Sri Lanka. This project won Zeinab the first place for the Business Innovation Award at Cutting Edge 2010 and her thesis was also published in the highly reputed Sri Lanka Journal of Bio-Medical Informatics (SLJBMI). She was also invited to participate in E-Health 2010, an international conference that was organised by the Postgraduate Institute of Medicine, and the Information & Communication Technology Agency (ICTA.)

In conclusion, Zeinab optimistically expressed that she wished to see IIT attain greater heights, hoping that the newer batches bring more fame and pride to the institution in the days to come.