Horizon Campus signs MoU with UK’s Uni of Essex, to offer cutting edge courses to Lankan students

Horizon Campus Deputy Vice Chancellor Dr. Ruwan Perera, International Partnership Officer Sally Day, University of Essex Director of Communications and External Relations Vanessa Potter, University of Essex Vice Chancellor Anthony Forster, British High Commissioner to Sri Lanka James Dauris, Horizon Group of Companies Chairman Upul Daranagama, Horizon Campus Vice Chancellor Prof. S.J.B. Jayasekara, Horizon Campus CEO Ajitha Wanasinghe and Horizon Campus Director Marketing Nilantha Ratnayake

University of Essex Vice Chancellor Anthony Forster, British High Commissioner to Sri Lanka James Dauris, and Horizon Group of Companies Chairman Upul Daranagama at the MoU signing

Horizon Campus, one of Sri Lanka’s leading private universities, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the University of Essex, UK as a first step to offering unparalleled Postgraduate Degree Programs to Sri Lankan students.

The partnership will open doors for students to enrol for programs in Law and Information Technology (IT) in specialised areas, and is a refreshing step to diversify the current market offerings.

British High Commissioner to Sri Lanka James Dauris speaking at the MoU signing ceremony

University of Essex Vice Chancellor Anthony Forster speaking at the MoU signing ceremony

Horizon Campus CEO Ajitha Wanasinghe speaking at the MoU signing ceremony

Speaking at the event, Horizon Campus CEO Ajitha Wanasinghe stated, “Today marks the first step of a longstanding collaboration between our universities that I believe will bring fruitful results to both organisations and to our country. Sri Lanka has entered into an era of steep economic development. The country needs top class universities that offer niche market courses to widen our scope in addition to the standard courses that are already commonly available. The University of Essex compliments this requirement and we are pleased to partner with them to bring a more dynamic offering of courses to our students.” 

Established in 2011, the Horizon Campus offers internationally recognised qualifications in affiliation with foreign universities in the UK, the US and Malaysia. The Campus consists of five faculties offering courses in Management, IT, Science, Education and International Programs and is a member of the Association of Commonwealth Universities (ACU), the Asia Pacific Quality Network (APQN) and the International Network for Quality Assurance Agencies in Higher Education (INQAAHE). 

Expressing his thoughts, the Vice Chancellor of the University of Essex, Prof. Anthony Forster said, “We are delighted to be here to work with such an esteemed partner as the Horizon Campus. We have had some exciting discussions about the way in which we can start off the partnership and about how we can build that partnership from the ground up. We hope that this MoU is a clear declaration of intent from the perspective of the University of Essex, on our commitment to produce global citizens who will go out into the world and make it a better place.”

Established in 1963, the University of Essex is ranked among the top 30 universities in the UK and among the top 25 universities for research in the UK. The University was also recently recognised as the ‘University of the Year’ for 2018 in the Times Higher Education Awards. 

Also expressing his thoughts at the signing, the British High Commissioner to Sri Lanka, James Dauris emphasised on the importance of education, the importance of English as a language and the importance of educational links between the UK and Sri Lanka. He added, “Currently, there are over 700,000 students participating in transnational education with British Universities across the world. We are fortunate to have over 20,000 of those students here in Sri Lanka.” 

“Your goal, working together, will be to educate young Sri Lankans to foster their aspirations and their ambitions for the future and to give them the education and the training that offers a realistic expectation of fulfilling those aspirations and ambitions. I wish everyone involved every success in taking forward the partnership that we are here to mark the creation,” he said.

The event was graced by British High Commissioner to Sri Lanka James Dauris, University of Essex Vice Chancellor Prof. Anthony Forster, International Partnership Officer Sally Day, University of Essex Director of Communications and External Relations Vanessa Potter, Horizon Group of Companies Chairman Upul Daranagama, Horizon Campus Vice Chancellor Prof. S.J.B. Jayasekara, Horizon Campus Deputy Vice Chancellor Dr. Ruwan Perera, Horizon Campus CEO Ajitha Wanasinghe and Horizon Campus Director Marketing Nilantha Ratnayake.