Prassanna Pathmanathan, another IIT success story

This alumnus of Informatics Institute of Technology (IIT) is a PR specialist, lecturer, supervisor, research scholar, trainer, entertainer and journalist and has a very steady presence in the Sri Lankan fashion industry.

Prassanna Pathmanathan, a 25-year-old past graduate of IIT’s BSc in Information Systems with Business Management (first class) from the University of Westminster UK and the gold medallist in his year by toping the batch, now lectures other students studying for the same degree and guides them through their final year research/thesis projects as a project supervisor as well.

Through the experience and knowledge gained from this degree, Prassanna was able to move into other disciplines such as business administration, marketing and human resource management as well. He’s a Chartered Marketer and currently reading for a degree in psychology and mastering in organisational psychology as well.

His first venture into the business world was in the fashion industry as a writer. In 2009 he was the youngest editor-in-chief of a publication when he held that position at Agora – South Asia’s first online magazine. What started out as a hobby turned him towards fashion journalism and he has had the privilege of interviewing and featuring many prominent personalities in the field of fashion, sports and entertainment and he has now moved into fashion styling as well.

This year he has been appointed as the National Director of Sri Lanka for Mr. Earth 2010 to nominate the Mr. Sri Lanka for the Mr. Earth 2011 and to top it all he was invited as a member of the jury this year to judge Mr. Earth 2011 this October in Central America. This is the first time a young Sri Lankan been invited as the judge for an international pageant.

He is currently working as the Head of Public relations at Cameron Pale and Medina (Pvt) Ltd., an all-inclusive Communication Agency.

Prassanna’s success story is just one example of many other similar stories related to Informatics Institute of Technology (IIT). In fact Prassanna stated: “As a project supervisor I have guided a few students in their final year projects. The topics and solutions that these students have come up with on their own are amazing in their complexity and advanced thinking capabilities. All these students received an ‘A’ and what’s more industry representatives who had the opportunity of going through these projects are now making arrangements to purchase these projects and implement them in a real-time environment. This is made possible only through the practical and advanced education system implemented by IIT in BSc (Hons) Information System with Business Management degree.”

Prassanna is also in the process of writing research papers together with his students to present at international business research conferences. As a result, he is presenting three research papers with his students in the International Conference on Business and Technology in November 2011 at FRI University, Dehradun, New Delhi, India. This is the first time two Sri Lankan research papers selected by the same author/s are getting published in this respective conference. This kind of exposure is made available to the students so that they receive local as well as international experience in their studies.

Speaking passionately about his work at IIT, Prassanna said: “It is no secret that every industry, no matter what business it is engaged in, ultimately needs the assistance of information technology in order to take the venture into the future. In varying degrees of importance, information technology has become a part and parcel of our everyday life. This is where the Information Systems with Business Management BSc (Hons) Degree that IIT offers comes into play. The degree is engineered in such a unique manner so as to enable the students to gain a well rounded knowledge of necessary IT components as well as a sound business acumen that will provide a stepping stone into whatever industry they wish to move into.”

“The popular perception regarding IIT’s Information Systems with Business Management degree is that it is a technical degree for extreme IT savvy people. However, this is not so. Instead this degree gives more knowledge on business management essentials together with a view point of IT harmonisation. The syllabus demands a complete immersion in the studies. However what sets this degree option apart is the practical angle that is inherent in every aspect of the programme.

“The third year of the four year course is the placement year. During this year, students are assisted in getting into a company of their choice in order that they might develop and acquire a practical understanding of the modules that they are learning about, and its application in the real world. The students get immense experience in working for the multinational giants and Sri Lankan blue chip companies in their internship and it gives them confidence and opportunities to be absorbed to the same companies after completing the degree.

“Also the internship has proven to be a resounding success as the depth of experience a student gains at that crucial moment in their studies is an essential step. It has also enabled the students to better apply themselves to the compulsory final year project that needs to be completed within a timeframe of eight to nine months.”

The exposure students get by doing a well balanced degree like this is immense, with IIT’s Information Systems with Business Management degree covering marketing, e-business, finance, database management, business administration, professional practices and project management, etc. “Doing a well diversified degree like this opens up various career paths for students. I was able to engage myself in many areas because of the foundation I received at IIT,” affirmed Prassanna.

“You can be anyone you want to be, doing anything you want to do, with IIT’s Information Systems with Business Management Degree. So think big. Think different,” were Prassanna’s final words of encouragement to hopeful students.