Student of NEXT School of Business awarded ‘Top Student of the World’ by CIM UK

Dushan Kahandagamage, a student of NEXT School of Business, was recently recognised and awarded the distinction of being the ‘Top Student of the World in the CIM Post Graduate Diploma (PgD) for 2011.

This is awarded to the student who achieves the highest marks for all subjects in the PgD, with all the exams being taken within a year and having passed them the first time.

Dushan has earned the distinction of been the first Sri Lankan Student to have won this award.

The Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM) is the leading international body for marketing and provides membership, qualifications and training to marketing professionals around the world.

The Chartered Post Graduate Diploma is a challenging, high-level two part marketing qualification that demonstrates specialist professional knowledge across many areas and a route to Chartered Marketer status.

Speaking of his achievement, Dushan stated: “I consider it a great honour to receive the Top Student award from CIM for the Post-graduate diploma in Marketing.

To be adjudged number one among students from all over the world is a great achievement for me. I am thankful to the NEXT School of Business for giving me the necessary experience, guidance, knowledge and confidence to be able to gain an award of this nature.”

Dushan praised the CIM delivery process at NEXT, which he affirmed is both unique and extremely rewarding. Dushan was of the opinion that by studying at NEXT, it enabled him not only to gain an academic knowledge of the subjects but to also get an industry relevant view point and to have an understanding of realistic and practical situations in the work place.

He pointed out: “The lecturers at NEXT are dynamic individuals in the corporate world. The interchange of knowledge, insight and experience imparted by them is one that gives students guidance in every aspect of their studies .

They teach with an in-depth understanding of the course content, gives you ample opportunities to practice past exam papers, ask questions, discuss and hear about real life examples to support the theoretical models.

I thank my tutors Dusty Alahakoon, Thusitha Abeysekara and Reyaz Jeffrey for raising the bar for the subjects and enabling me to deliver exceptional results to excel and win this award.”

Dushan currently works as a QA and Visualisation Specialist at STAX INC, which is a global strategy consulting firm with offices in Boston, Chicago, New York, and Colombo.

Previously he has also been the recipient of the CIM Sri Lankan prize for Marketing Management (2010) under the guidance of Tharanga Gunasekara of NEXT.

Dushan’s lecturers while wishing him luck with future endeavours had this to say about him:

“Dushan has throughout being an extremely dedicated student whose thirst for knowledge certainly made our task easier.

There is an extraordinary sense of achievement when one of your students is awarded as ‘the top student of the world’ and I am extremely happy to be a part of the team that brought such honour to the Sri Lankan CIM Fraternity,” stated Dusty Alahakoon, COO, Asia Pacific Brewery Lanka Ltd. and who is on the Board of Management at NEXT School of Business.

Thusitha Abeysekara, Manager – Brands, British American Tobacco, a lecturer of Dushan’s stated: “To have commendable results in challenging assignments while being focused on his career is indeed an achievement. I think all of us at NEXT are proud to have him represent us.”

Another lecturer of Dushan, Reyaz Jeffrey, CEO, Family Takaful, Amana Takaful PLC, affirmed: “Dushan is an example to all students whether CIM or otherwise that career, studies and family can be balanced with the right attitude and commitment. Dushan epitomises NEXT’s claim ‘Pass it – First time!’”

Established in 2007, NEXT School of Business is an accredited study centre for CIM UK.

Within a year of establishment NEXT became the largest CIM Accredited Study Centre in Sri Lanka and continues to be so to date.