Universally, there is a growing need for well-trained and educated marketing professionals who must know more than just the basics and there lies a tremendous opportunity for educators to provide a curriculum that prepares students for an extensive future as business professionals. It is of utmost importance that a student not only selects the Correct Qualification but the Correct Study Centre if they are to succeed.

Imperial college is one of the few accredited institutes in Sri Lanka for The Charted Institute of Marketing (CIM) which is the world's largest professional marketing body with over 60,000 members worldwide. CIM defines the marketing standards and promotes best practices globally. As a result, a CIM Graduate will not only be recognized in Sri Lanka but in the international arena as well. With its growth plans in mind Imperial College will be re-branding themselves to Strategy which will deliver many marketing qualification under one roof.

Students can also opt for assignment based learning through collaboration with the London School of Marketing (LMS), the world's second largest CIM tuition provider located in the UK. This collaboration will guide, facilitate and tutor 300 students per term from the UK who wish to enter into a sales and marketing career and have opted for the assignment based route. This close partnership would be developed to offer wide benefits to Sri Lankan CIM students through sharing of knowledge and best practices to increase the overall CIM pass rates and an enrichment of the students' experience on the CIM Case study.

The Winning formula
Marketing today is undoubtedly the driving force of any organization and if you are to build marketing as a competency, one has to be conscious of what you learn and from whom you learn..

Strategy provides one of the most advanced programmes for CIM in Sri Lanka. The Programme is centered on a carefully selected panel of lecturers who are practising and proven marketers. The programme is structured in a way that the students get to learn the subjects in the most practical perspective as well as get the rare benefit of learning from the real life business experiences of the lecture panel. Each subject is delivered through a carefully planned programme which includes a high degree of group work, student presentations and in a multi media environment. This is of critical importance to groom the future marketers with the correct mix of theory, practice and innovative thinking
Practising and proven marketers as lecturers.

The Strategy lecture panel boasts of experience spanning across a wide range of industries such as Banking, Insurance, Apparel, Telecommunication, Research, Advertising, FMCG etc. This is a great advantage for the students as they get exposure to the current business context, which is a critical factor for examination success as well as developing an applied knowledge on marketing.

Wider benefits for a bright career
Amongst its many initiatives to meet the objectives of offering students a new and unrivalled learning experience through its introduction of a host of new programmes designed and aimed primarily to integrate 'real world experience' with a formal marketing education, Strategy also provides students with a host of services, which include:-

• Career counselling and guidance through its programme "Enrich"
• Job bank, providing employment and resume information services
• Education Loans from NDB Bank and easy payment schemes through Amex and HSBC Credit cards
• Air-conditioned and Multimedia enabled lecture halls.
  

To win in today's dynamic and competitive business environment, qualifying in CIM would be an excellent stepping stone. On top of this, it is imperative for one to possess the right mix of Skill, Knowledge and Attitude to sustain one's competitive advantage. The CIM programme at Strategy has the ideal formula, not only to make students pass but also to provide a wider development, which is essential for success. Students may call 4891222 to find out more about the new intake.
The CIM Lecture panel of Strategy consists of the following marketers:

a) Mr. Yasas Hewage, Asst. Vice President / Head of Personal Loans and Sales, NDB Bank
b) Mr. Lewie Diasz, Chief Manager American Express Cards and Consumer Assets, Nations Trust Bank
c) Mr. Nalaka Godahewa, Ex CEO, Sri Lanka Insurance Corporation
d) Sheahan Arsaratnam, General Manager -Retail Banking products and Head of Marketing Standard Chartered Bank,
e) Dimithri Suraweera - Country Manager, Fastreact Systems