The National Mobile Service Provider, Sri Lanka Telecom Mobitel, recently announced the launch of several new initiatives with the University of Colombo. The new projects will contribute towards an ICT-enhanced knowledge economy.
Commenting on the partnership, Mobitel’s CEO, Lalith De Silva stated, “it is our responsibility to prepare students for a changing world, we strongly believe we must share our knowledge, skills and experience, with students and academia to meet the challenges of the future and be a part of the real world. It is for this very reason that we have partnered once again with the University of Colombo to launch these five new projects.”
Mobitel will work alongside the University of Colombo, to develop its own Project Management programme – which will be subsequently added to the University’s curriculum. The programme will also be made available via Mobitel’s mLearning platform, which was initially launched together with the University of Colombo. The mLearning platform acts as a catalyst which fosters a knowledge economy – overcoming traditional classroom methods. An internship programme will also be launched between Mobitel and the University of Colombo. This initiative will give students a chance to further their studies and career, with crucial ‘on-the-job’ training. All research work, carried out by Mobitel, will also be outsourced to students from the University of Colombo as and when applicable. The National Mobile Service Provider will also facilitate the set-up of a research laboratory for the University’s Science Faculty.
Finally, Mobitel intends on setting up an Annual Peace Award, which will be given to a member of the Academic staff at the University of Colombo – responsible for maintaining a cordial environment within the University premises.
“It is the duty of academics to directly get involved in national development. We believe in life long learning and the public-private partnership, and these five new projects will be extremely important to the University of Colombo and the University System of the country in general,” said Prof Kshanika Hirimburegama, Vice Chancellor, University of Colombo.
