The agreement was signed by the Prof. Said Irandoust, AIT President,
and Prof. Neville Fernando Chairman, SAITM on 1 August 2012. SAITM plans
to officially start the four-year program in October 2012, under which
students will spend their first two years in Sri Lanka and will
transfer to AIT during final two years. The new program will be offered
by AIT’s School of Environment Resources and Development (SERD).
Earlier, AIT had signed an MOU with SAITM in January 2009 to launch
the undergraduate program spearheaded by AIT’s School of Engineering
and Technology (SET). Following this agreement, the first batch of 50
undergraduate students from Sri Lanka have already enrolled in the
third and fourth years at AIT. The second batch of 90 students will
arrive at AIT in September 2012.
The MoA ceremony at Colombo was witnessed by over 100 guests including
SAITM faculty, students, prospective students and their parents, as
well as representatives from the media. The President was accompanied
by Dr. Weerakorn Ongsakul, Dean SERD, and Mr. Sanjeev Jayasinghe,
Director, Fundraising. Others who attended the event included Dr.
Nandika Miguntanna, Head of Department of Environment Engineering,
SAITM; Dr. Sisuru Sendanayake, Dean, Faculty of Engineering,
SAITM; and Mr. Chinthaka Wasantha, Head of Department of
Mechatronics Engineering, SAITM. The MoA signing event was
reported in the daily newspaper The Nation, and can be read at this
link.
The President also met Hon. Mr. Gitanjana Gunawardene, Deputy Minister
of Finance Planning, Government of Sri Lanka, and briefed him about
AIT’s latest initiatives. The President thanked him for his role in
facilitating the Government of Sri Lanka’s endorsement of AIT’s
Intergovernmental status, and for becoming a founder member of the AIT
New Council. The President also discussed the proposed contribution of
the Government of Sri Lanka to the AIT Endowment Fund. The Minister
stated that as a symbolic token contribution, he will request his
Govenrment to provide scholarships to Sri Lankan students to study at
AIT.
From left to right: Dr. Nandika
Miguntanna, Dr. Sisuru Sendanayake, Mr. Sanjeev
Jayasinghe, Prof. Neville Fernando, Prof. Said
Irandoust, Dr. Ongsakul Weerakorn, and Mr. Chinthaka Wasantha
.