The Island

ICT led Government transformation will be the key in delivering efficient citizen services, says ICT Agency of Sri Lanka (ICTA) CEO Reshan Dewapura. Dewapura said so while making the concluding remarks at the close of Future Gov SAARC Summit 2012 at Cinnamon Grand Hotel Colombo recently ( 19th July).

The future of the country is in the hands of our younger generation, and as adults we have been bestowed with the responsibility of education. Education is not only a contributory factor but an essentiality in the growth and development of children. Comprehending the importance of education, Etisalat held a special workshop in aid of assisting and enhancing students and parents to prepare for the grade 5 scholarship exams.

The Commercial Bank of Ceylon’s flagship CSR initiative reached a milestone recently, with the donation of the Bank’s 50th IT Lab to President’s College, Sri Jayawardenapura, Kotte.

Wipro, India's third largest IT firm with $ 4.4 Bn revenue in '11, is the latest to join the high level Indian trade and biz delegation arriving in Colombo next week.

The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka (CA Sri Lanka) has launched its scholarship scheme for the year 2012 which is expected to benefit over 115 students in the country aspiring to be Chartered Accountants.

By Ajith De Alwis, Lecturer at the Department of Chemical and Process Engineering, University of Moratuwa

Across the globe another technological revolution is shaping up. The new revolution is termed Nanotechnology – controlling and manipulating matter at atomic scale for economic and social benefit. Unlike other industrial revolutions, this is open to anybody who has a sense of importance and an understanding of science and technology.

A knowledge society and knowledge-based economy are the latest catch words in the field of education. Knowledge, skills and resourcefulness of people are critical to the building up of a knowledge society which is crucial for achieving the objective of a knowledge-based economy. During the last two decades, most of the South and South East Asian countries have developed considerably by with the involvement of the academics.

Higher Education Minister S. B. Dissanayake says that of all national diplomas offered by the Sri Lanka Institute of Advanced Technological Education (SLIATE), the Higher National Diploma in English has the lowest demand in the local job market.

A new wave of expropriation by Sri Lanka’s rulers is a blow to entrepreneurship in the island and a misguided repetition of a grave error that has harmed its people in the past, a Sri Lankan entrepreneur has warned.

Mature markets today are stagnating and are looking to little or no growth over the next few years; the Euro crisis has made it worse. Then, there are relatively fast growth economies like the BRICS or the CIVETS and others.

Sri Lanka with a population of 21,283,913 (2011) had 2,503,194 internet and 1,235,080 Face book users at the end of December 2011. Surprisingly, these figures show how fast the modern technology and the internet have taken root and spread throughout the country.

www.bposrilanka - the website that provides 6 outsourcing services under one common name in the virtual world was re-launched with a new look and feel.

The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka (CA Sri Lanka) will commence a seminar series next month aimed at boosting the knowledge of financial professionals on the Sri Lanka Accounting Standards 2012 which is based on the 2011 International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) version.

The Business Software Alliance (BSA) in its 2011 BSA Global Software Piracy Study said that Sri Lanka has recorded a further 2 percentage point drop in its PC piracy rate in 2011, bringing the rate down from 86% last year to 84% this year. The only other Asian countries that achieved a similar 2 point drop over 2011 are Hong-Kong and Vietnam.

Out of 90 respondents to a fraud survey, representing 102 industry segments in the country 70 percent admitted to have encountered fraud in their organizations, the public sector toped reporting 89 percent of incidence of fraud while the private sector reported 64 percent. Remarkably the findings outlined 15 percent were accidental detections.

The PF is organizing the second series of seminars, beginning with "Billions of Entrepreneurs; How China and India are Reshaping their Futures and Yours". The seminar, organized in collaboration with the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce using video conference facility of the American Centre, is scheduled for the 22nd of May 2012. from 6:30 p.m. – 8:30 p.m. 

The shared services of Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) could be employed by business organizations as business as a transformation tool not just as a functional method, a top financial specialist said. "Sharing of services and out sourcing appears to be the two most popular strategies in recent times. But the most important thing is these methods must fit the organization and increases its business values rather than just a functional or cost cutting mechanism," Group Finance Director and Executive Director of John Keells Holdings Plc Ronnie Peiris said at the Executive Briefing Series on Finance Transactions: Expert insights on shares services and out sourcing.

The three winners of the Sri Lanka Science and Engineering Fair (SLSEF) 2011 - Chathura Saman Kumara from Pinnawala Central College, Rambukkana, Maleen Wijeratna from Maliyadeva College, Kurunegala, and a team comprising Pipunika Vimanthi Silva and Nipun Kavishka Silva from, De Mazenod College, Kandana will travel to Pittsburg, PA in the USA to represent Sri Lanka at the annual Intel International Science and Engineering Fair from the 14th through 18th of this month.

The topic of private universities has been hotly debated over the last few months following the government’s move to present the "Quality Assurance, Accreditation and Qualification Framework Bill" (more commonly known in the media as the ‘Private University Bill’) to the Parliament, and its subsequent withdrawal. The IPS research staff engaged in an informal in-house debate on ‘Is Encouraging Private Education at the Tertiary Level the Best Way Forward for Sri Lanka?’. In this debate, the proposing and opposing sides raised many issues that are worth highlighting, particularly in the context of Sri Lanka’s goal of becoming a knowledge hub in the region. This article presents the key arguments put forward and opens them out for wider debate.

Valedictorian Markandu Sivakumaran was amongst the first batch of Sri Lankan students who graduated with MBAs from the Asia e University (AeU), a dual-mode multinational university established under the Asia Corporation Dialogue. Sivakumaran, who topped the batch delivered the valedictory speech in front of the distinguished audience assembled for the Convocation.

The 26th Students’ National Conference of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka (CA Sri Lanka) organized by the CA Students’ Society, was held recently at the Hotel Galadari – Grand Ballroom. Themed "Dream… Focus… Excel…" the conference was lauded by the participants including students of other professional bodies and over 20 student delegates from member bodies in the SAARC region.

A seminar on recent developments and trends under intellectual property law, organized by the Institute of Legal Studies and Management, to mark ‘World Intellectual Property Day, will be held on April 26 (Thursday) from 1.00 p.m. to 5.00 p.m. at Blue Elephant – Hilton Colombo.

World Class Speakers and International Best Selling Authors, Dr. Kevin Freiberg and Dr. Jackie Freiberg will be exclusively featured for the first time together in Asia, right here in Sri Lanka, presented by Dynamix International Consultancy(Pvt)Ltd, at the Jaic Hilton on 15th May from 9am to 5pm.

IPS recently hosted a discussion on the Sri Lankan perspectives of a World Bank report titled ‘More and Better Jobs in South Asia’ and brought to light many issues related to the Sri Lankan job market. Among the diverse range of views that surfaced, the debate on "what really is a better job?" was an interesting one that emerged.

The Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) sector, one of the fastest growing industries in Sri Lanka, is now in peril due to certain laws and legislations, particularly the Shop and Office Employees (Regualtion of Employments and Remuneration) Act that prevents women to be employed during the night.