Sri Lankan students deserve the best Higher education options – IIT GM

“The IT and business industry in Sri Lanka has been marked as one of the fundamental powerhouses fuelling the new economic voyage of the nation. Today, technology is the rudimentary driver of global economic growth. Not only is technology rapidly transforming the face of the world economy, but it is also changing the fundamentals of human possibility, redefining the boundaries of communication and travel, and re-shaping the way the world thinks and works,” said Informatics Institute of Technology (IIT) General Manager Sudharshan Welihinda.

As an Institute with a proud history of 22 years, what sets IIT apart from its peers is the dedication and commitment shown by every member of its staff in order to continuously maintain the best levels of educational standards, disciplinary standards, achievement and encouragement levels, and all round development standards.

Spearheaded by the energetic and dynamic Welihinda, IIT centres has grown in leaps and bounds under his care and encouragement.

Welihinda has been with IIT for many years and believes in the ideals and teaching methodology incorporated by the Institute as it has proven to be a success. IIT students are the most sought after graduates in the working arena.

In a world where the economic climate is such that young people are the last to be hired and the first to be fired due to their lack of work experience, IIT prides itself on producing graduates who have already experienced a third year placement period where they have closely worked with top industries and have gained immense knowledge especially as the placement year is dedicated to learning without the added pressure of performance when dependent on the job. Therefore IIT students have a year’s worth of experience in the work field and can contribute significantly as employees.

Welihinda further pointed out that youth unemployment is a major cause for concern in Sri Lanka where many qualified young people possess the technical skills and appropriate academic qualification for a job but lack of soft skills required for translating their knowledge to a work environment. This is where IIT gives an equal priority to teaching their students not only the theoretical and practical skills in applying their knowledge of IT to their workplace but also give prominence to developing soft skills necessary in the competitive outside world.

“Clearly education is of critical concern in Sri Lanka in this era of post-conflict development. The country has always boasted a high literacy rate, but the quality of this literacy is now questionable in comparison with that of emerging economies like China and India. India and China have always been an attractive option for companies and investors due to their ready talent pool, particularly in the fields of science and technology. It is essential that Sri Lanka work to be on par with such countries and therefore at IIT we have undertaken a responsibility to produce students with quality education that will enable them to be on par with their leading international peers,” said Welihinda

The Colombo, Kandy and Jaffna computer learning centres which comes under the purview of Welihinda, offers short term courses and kids programs for students from age six. These courses provide the highest value for money to students who want to build higher careers in the field of IT. The diploma in Software Engineering course (DISE) offered by these centres is one of such specially designed for this purpose for students who have done Ordinary Level and Advance Level exams.  In the near future, learning centres will offer some of these courses in e-learning mode where tudents can learn from home using the Internet facility.  “IIT is making use of all positive developments in IT that will make possible  to reach out to talented and keen young minds who would otherwise have been deprived of the ability to gain a quality IT education simply because of where they live or under their life circumstances,” said Welihinda.

“IIT’s aim is to offer exceptional IT and business education at affordable rates to keen students who would be able to make use of great career opportunities both locally and internationally.

IT related employment is exceptionally high and those with a sound IT education are able to obtain excellent career advancement opportunities and have a better rate of career growth than those in other industries.

As an executive committee member of the Federation of the Information Technology Industry and Services  Sri Lanka (FITIS) as well as the President of the software chapter of FITIS,  Welihinda plays a prominent role in encouraging and promoting members to produce high quality software solutions  and services, establishing forums for exchanging information, developing closer relationships between members and identifying new business opportunities with IT organisations in other countries , acting as the advisory consultative body for the industry and   helps to  formulate and propose model legislation and other such measures for the advancement of the IT industry in Sri Lanka.

Welihinda believes that all these measures will be instrumental in giving Sri Lankan students prime opportunities to develop themselves, their industry and in turn their country.

As an institute that has guided students along the best educational and career paths for almost three decades, we have a responsibility to ensure that today’s children are given the best opportunities in order to receive the best returns” concluded Welihinda.