Sri Lankan Minister visits AIT
On 31 May 2007, Hon. Mr. Dinesh Gunawardena, Minister of Urban Development and Sacred Area Development, Sri Lanka, made an official visit to AIT. The Hon Minister and his party -- accompanied by the Charge d' Affaires of the Sri Lankan Embassy, Bangkok -- was welcomed by AIT President Said Irandoust, Dr. Khin Ni Ni Thein, VP-DR, Prof. S. Rakshit, VP-Research, Mr. Sanjeev Jayasinghe, Prof. Chettiyapan Visvanathan and Dr. Hemantha Jayasuriya, and Sri Lankan students. President Irandoust had met the Hon. Minister in Sri Lanka along with Mr. Sanjeev Jayasinghe last year when the Hon. Minister was on his way back to Sri Lanka from China transited in Bangkok to meet President Irandoust.
During his visit at AIT, the Hon. Minister informed the President that his Ministry needs AIT to assist in organizing short term training, capacity building in the areas of GIS and remote sensing, where AIT could offer practical training in a modular form. This training should also be provided to the local authorities in the provinces. The Ministry will send AIT shortly a document underlying the areas where the Ministry needs AIT's assistance in specific training, even Master's programmes etc. The Ministry has been provided funding to carry out these projects.
The President also informed the Hon. Minister the MOU AIT recently signed with Ceylinco Education group (CEG), and requested if the Ministry could also get involved in the establishment of the AIT Centre in the form of a triple halix (AIT,CEG, and Government). The Hon. Minister was favorable to this idea and would like to discuss more with AIT. AIT President requested Mr. Sanjeev Jayasinghe to get fully involved in the preparation and discussions of such a proposal together with CEG, and the Ministry of Urban Development. The Minister mentioned that the Centre could focus on the dire need of online education and flexible learning, since there is a huge demand in Sri Lanka for this type of distance education programmes which at the moment has not been met. The AIT President said AIT could initiate this programme and push even the national universities in Sri Lanka to head towards this direction.
The AIT President likewise mentioned that he was aware that Sri Lanka sends a lot of their citizens to the middle east for work, however they are mainly unskilled and hence receives a lesser income. Therefore, a possibility for AIT to get involved in vocational training by the trainers in this field can be provided in order to send out a better skilled Sri Lankan workforce. The Hon. Minister commended the AIT President on this suggestions and would like AIT to get involved in this.