Australia’s Swinburne University-Nawaloka College have first graduation

• 46 graduates; 4 scholarships to Swinburne awarded

The graduating students of NCHS

One of Australia’s most highly recognised seats of higher education, Swinburne University of Technology which inked a partnership with leading provider of globally recognised educational qualifications, Nawaloka College of Higher Studies, conducted its maiden graduation ceremony under the aegis of Acting High Commissioner to Australia, Tim Huggins and Senior Professor in Civil Engineering at the University of Moratuwa Professor Malik Ranasinghe.

46 young people successfully completed Diploma of Business or Diploma of Engineering as well as the Swinburne Foundation Year in Business and Engineering. In addition, four graduates earned scholarships to Swinburne, recognising their high performance. NCHS too presented three scholarships in the Diplomas for Business and Engineering. In total nine top students were also recognised for their high achievements.  

This is impressive given that NCHS launched its state of the art campus with its international learning environment just one year ago. As NCHS Chairman Jayantha Dharmadasa stated, “We have successfully endeavoured to sustain the Sri Lankan government’s vision to be an international hub of excellence in higher education.  It gives us a sense of pride that we have been an active contributor to the country’s knowledge based economic growth.”  

This very first engineering batch will transfer to Swinburne’s high-quality engaged teaching environment in Australia and Malaysia with its emphasis on research in science, technology and innovation. The NCHS ethos of continually providing access to knowledge gaining pathways saw it add California State University Monterey Bay into its portfolio this year, significantly expanding the subject portfolio offered and giving students learning opportunities  in Australia, Malaysia and the USA.

As the Acting High Commissioner mentioned, “The establishment of the Nawaloka-Swinburne joint venture in Sri Lanka has brought well regarded international education within reach of Sri Lankan students. This collaboration presents NCHS students a progressive pathway of education, completing their foundation and/or diploma and then enhancing their knowledge and skill with a world class qualification.”  

This was added to by Professor Ranasinghe, who while congratulating the students, said, “I recognise and appreciate the opportunity provided by NCHS to students who may not have been able to enter a state university in Sri Lanka, due to limited availability of seats. While the demand is high for engineers, technologists and business professionals, it is imperative that we train young people to contribute towards the development wealth creation for our nation.”

Swinburne University’s representation at the graduation was significant with Executive Director Pathways and Vocational Education David Coltman, Director Swinburne International Melissa Banks, Manager Regional Relations Lindon Joseph and Director Business Development and Communication of the Malaysia Campus in Sarawak James Ho present.  Director NCHS Indrajit Coomaraswamy delivered the congratulatory message to the graduates.  In a message to the students, Vice-Chancellor and President of Swinburne University of Technology Linda Kristanjanson urged those graduating to address the new challenges that face communities and make a positive contribution.  

“Swinburne is consistently named as one of the top universities in the world according to the prestigious Academic Ranking of World Universities and hence, you should take pride in knowing you have a high-quality education from a world-ranked university.”

Present from NCHS was Deputy Chairman Victor Ramanan, Dean of Studies Dr. Alan Robertson, Directors Professor Lal Chandrasena, Harshith Dharmadasa, Jaya Rudra and Givantha Dharmadasa and CEO/Executive Director Victor Rajeevan.