IIHE ties up with University of Salford Manchester to offer honours degree programs

Wednesday, 25 March 2015 02:11 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Investment Promotion and Highways Deputy Minister Eran Wickramaratne (fourth from right) speaks to Deputy British High Commissioner Laura Davies at a ceremony on Monday to announce a partnership between the Imperial Institute of Higher Education (IIHE) and the University of Salford Manchester (UK). Others from left are IIHE Director Priyantha Fernando, IHE CEO Trevor Mendis, IIHE Director Education Dr. Thilaka Weerakoon, University of Salford Prof. Paul Rowlett, UGC Vice Chairman Prof. P.S.M. Gunaratne - Pic by Shehan Gunasekara The Imperial Institute of Higher Education (IIHE) on Monday announced its partnership with the University of Salford Manchester (UK) to offer its honours degree programs in Sri Lanka. The Imperial Institute of Higher Education will now be able to offer degrees such as BSc (Hons) in Business Management, BSc (Hons) in Business and Information Technology, BSc (Hons) in Accounting and Finance, BSc (Hons) in Business and Tourism Management. These programs will be offered as internal university degrees with worldwide recognition. The University of Salford Manchester (UK), which was recognised as the ‘Times Business School of the year 2014’, has a very rich heritage and has courses designed to equip students for the challenges of the working world. Today, the university has a successful global presence with four colleges, 2,500 staff and about 20,000 students and has grown in order to further the needs of the industry, commerce and education. A live video message from the university’s Vice Chancellor Prof. Helen Marshall from Manchester UK was also shown at the launch. The official launch was graced by Deputy Minister Eran Wickramaratne, who was the Chief Guest along with the Deputy British High Commissioner in Sri Lanka Laura Davis, who attended as the Guest of Honour, Prof Paul Rowlette representing the Vice Chancellor of The University of Salford, Prof. Helen Marshall, special invitee Prof. P.S.M Gunaratne Deputy Chairman of the University Grants Commission and the directors and senior officials of IIHE. “I am delighted to support and promote the recently agreed collaboration between the Imperial Institute of Higher Education and the Salford Business School at the University of Salford. Our experience and relationship with Sri Lankan scholars has been extremely positive and rewarding. The university has been able to incorporate them at the undergraduate, postgraduate and doctorate levels, resulting in the high quality of the student population in Sri Lanka. We look forward to promoting greater access to higher education in Sri Lanka and developing the university’s passport to global citizenship and enhancing career opportunities for all its students,” said Prof. Marshall. The faculty of IIHE consists of experienced professionals with sound academic backgrounds who are appointed directly by the parent university after careful evaluation of their qualifications and industrial experience. IIHE is known for offering quality tertiary education and developing professional leaders with an ethical and moral commitment to the corporate world and society at large. This transformation is facilitated by adopting an interactive experiential learning approach in order to transfer knowledge, business skills, soft skills and entrepreneurial behaviour. The real life problem solving (RLPS) module, which is a unique experience, requires students in the final year to undertake a real problem of an organisation and find a solution. In addition, students are required to undertake a research-based dissertation of 20,000 words. This develops their scientific approach to problem-solving. “Education is a lifetime investment and the prospective students should be vigilant to identify the best program that moulds them into professionals who can interact with the highly volatile business environments of today. Institutions like IIHE, which transforms people’s lives, should be ethically and morally committed to maintaining high standards of service quality. The business environment today is highly dynamic. Increasing levels of global competition, changes in the political and economic environments, demographic changes and technological advances demand employers to recruit individuals with a high level of skill in order to drive businesses through these challenges. I am pleased that our partnership with the University of Salford Manchester will enable and strengthen us to bridge these requirements,” said Director of Education- Imperial Institute of Higher Education, Dr. T.S. Weerakoon. The initial intakes for these programs are scheduled for the month of March 2015 and the minimum entry criteria for the internal degree programs are two Advanced Level passes in any stream. The degrees of Salford University are accredited by professional Institutes and students on completion of their degrees at IIHE will be entitled to exemptions from reputed professional bodies. The Imperial Institute of Higher Education was incorporated in Sri Lanka in 1996 stemming from the lack of students to take up challenges in the modern corporate world. It is one of the oldest and most reputed institutions that offer foreign university degrees in Sri Lanka including the undergraduate and postgraduate programs from the University of Wales (UK).The IIHE also offers professional qualifications such as CIMA, ACCA, Chartered Accountancy (Local and UK), HND, Banking, AAT, ABE and a Diploma in Hospitality. It is strategically located in the heart of Colombo at Bambalapitiya with easy access from any direction. The IIHE also offers free Wi-Fi, library facilities, a computer laboratory and student area as value added services for the students.