SLIM holds Graduation Ceremony 2016 in grand style

The Graduation Ceremony 2016 of Sri Lanka Institute of Marketing (SLIM) was held on a grand scale on 4 November at Main Conference Hall – BMICH, with certificates being awarded to students who completed graduate and postgraduate level qualifications. Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake attended as the Chief Guest of the event.

Students who successfully completed the exams for National Diploma in Sales Management, Diploma in Strategic Brand Management, Postgraduate Diploma in Marketing (SL), Certified Professional Marketer (Asia) and Master of Business Administration (UK), received their certificates at the ceremony while the status of Practicing Marketer (SL) and Fellow Member were awarded to selected members of the marketing fraternity.

The National Diploma in Sales Management, designed for sales career minded people already in the sales, marketing or business development force, produced 109 graduates with A.V. Seneviratne being recognised as the best student. 

The Diploma in Strategic Brand Management, a 12-month part-time programme designed to give students brand marketing competencies from multiple dimensions, produced 66 graduates with the best student being M.P.D.N. Abeysinghe.

M.F. Aysha Shahani was recognised as the best student of the Postgraduate Diploma in Marketing, a 24-month part-time programme which gives students the marketing competencies from operational level to synthesis level. The December 2015 batch of the Diploma included 66 graduates while the June 2016 batch included 99 graduates.

The best student in the Master of Business Administration programme was M.A. Wahab.

Thereafter, 53 graduates were awarded the status of Certified Professional Marketer (Asia), a prestigious professional status conferred by the Asia Marketing Federation (AMF), which consists of 15 Asian countries in the region.

Selected marketers were awarded the SLIM Practicing Marketer status, which recognizes the continuous professional development of marketers who strive to be abreast of the market.

This was followed by Gamika De Silva, Chief Manager Marketing at Seylan Bank PLC and Ranjith Edirisinghe, Consultant - Co-operative Wholesale Establishment, Ministry of Industry and Commerce being awarded Fellow Member for their outstanding contribution towards the marketing fraternity.

Chief Guest Minister Karunanayake, Guest of Honour SLIM President Upul Adikari and Prof. Syed Ferhat Anwar – Professor, Institute of Business Administration, University of Dhaka and President of Marketing Society of Bangladesh and Chief Advisor of Bangladesh Brand Forum – attended as a special guest and all top officials of SLIM were also present.

“The role of Sri Lanka Institute of Marketing as a national professional body since 1970, has to be appreciated in no uncertain terms. The vision statement of SLIM of ‘leading the nation’s efforts towards economic prosperity’ has to be truly commended from a national view point. The number of professionals moulded through the structured study programs over the years would have contributed for the betterment of the nation and would continue to do so in the future,” said Karunanayake.

“As the national institute of Marketing, SLIM has been at the forefront of professional marketing education for the past 46 years. I congratulate the graduates and the best students and wish them all success in their careers,” said Adikari.

SLIM Vice President Karthik Elangovan also noted that addressing the tertiary education needs of students all over the island is an integral part of broader vision of expanding the reach of SLIM education. To this end, it has established accredited study centres island wide, which strengthen SLIM programmes semi urban and outstation areas.

“All students who graduated today should be proud of their achievements as they are now prepared to embark on a successful career in marketing with the knowledge and education gained at SLIM,” noted SLIM CEO/Executive Director Sanath Senanayake.

The graduation ceremony is the most important academic event of the institute and is organised annually to award certificates to students who successfully complete their education at SLIM. The special sponsors for the best students this year was Metropolitan. The ceremony was followed by the ‘Marketers’ Ball’ aiming to bridge the past, present and future on a national scale.