AIT IN SRI LANKA
Collaborations with Sri Lanka were further strengthened by a mission led by Prof. Jean-Louis Armand, AIT President, who travelled to Colombo on 23-26 January 2000 and held high level meetings with concerned authorities.
Working with the Ministry of Education and Higher Education
Preceding the mission was a visit to AIT on 16 January by H. E. Mr. Richard Pathirana, the Sri Lankan Minister of Education and Higher Education, accompanied by H.E. Mr. Karunatilaka Amunugama, the Sri Lankan Ambassador to Thailand and an AIT Trustee. Mr. Pathirana was in Bangkok to attend the UNESCO Regional Conference on Higher Education. Also in the visit were Prof. Lal Perera, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Education and Higher Education; and Mr. A.A. Navaratne, Assistant Director General, National Institute of Education.
The high-level Sri Lankan delegation later met with 15 officials from the Ministry who are attending a certificate course in Teacher Education Development at CLET. The second batch of 15 participants from the same Ministry will attend this CLET course in the May 2000 term. Eight to 10 candidates will be selected by the Ministry for AIT's Master's program in Information Management in May 2000, to be supported by the Ministry under a World Bank Project.
Meetings were also held with ...
Prof. K. Tillekeratne, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Kelaniya, to discuss the implementation of the present MOU. The first students on the 'split' Ph.D. program will join SOM in the May 2000 term, with all costs covered by ADB funds given to the University of Kelaniya. The University will organize a workshop on the Master's Program in GIS Applications in March.
Mr. Rohan Perera, President and Chairman of the Board of Management of Pramuka Savings and Development Bank, on the current MoU and the introduction of an AIT outreach activity in Management-related fields.
Mr. Victor Mendis, Chairman, National Engineering and Research Development Center, which is sending three department heads to AIT's Master's program in Energy Technology (enrolled in January 2000 term), Environmental Engineering, and Management of Technology. A fourth candidate will join AIT on a 'split' type Ph.D. program in Agricultural Engineering. Funding will be provided by ADB directly to NERDC.
Mr. Faiz Mohideen, Director General, Department of External Resources, Ministry of Finance and Planning. Five senior executives from the department will be joining the Master's program, with three to be fully funded by UNDP funds given to the Department. In addition, five senior executives will attend a three month certificate program in project monitoring, evaluation and appraisal at AIT.
Details of these meetings and collaborations are available with Mr. Sanjeev Jayasinghe, Senior Development Officer.