Over the years the University of Moratuwa’s Rotaract club has initiated a great many projects that have proved immensely beneficial to a number of social demographics. Arguably the most unique amongst them is a website, now into its second year, which seeks to form a link between the industrial world and today’s youth.
Dubbed ‘ideashub.com’, the site offers undergraduates, from both the University of Moratuwa and the Rotaract community, an opportunity to help formulate solutions for a range of small, medium and large scale companies.
This is achieved when, after perusing the projects presented on ideashub.com, a group of students can register on the site itself for Ideas2010, the initiative through which the various company projects are offered. A casual browse through the site reveals a list of ventures seeking solutions, flanked by their related fields (Electronic, Electrical, Mechanical, Software Development etc.) and their scheduled deadlines.
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| Members of the University of Moratuwa's Rotaract Club. |
Names like ‘Automation of Rubber Tapping process to gain latex’, ‘Intelligent Controller’ and ‘Database management system to store and manage drawings’ are sure to stir up the interest of curious undergrads looking to be challenged.
University of Moratuwa Rotaract club President, Dilina Fernando, says the site also provides companies with a chance to sieve out potentially gifted future employees. “What we are looking to do with this site is to build a bridge between the industry and students. Though the students are not likely to get paid it gives them experience and a chance at possibly working for these companies in the future,” Dilina explains.
The rotaractors from Moratuwa University also work closely with and receive the support of their counterparts from Jacobs University in Bremen Germany.
Ideashub was initially founded by previous Rotaract President Sajith Weerakoon at the beginning of last year. Since then Dilina and an enthusiastic circle of rotarators have taken over the site’s reins.
“We leave one person with the task of handling a particular project so then things are more organized. We also keep the site working for only about the first four to five months of the year so we can regulate the number of projects we are handling,” Dilina divulges.
Presently a number of projects have been solved by several undergraduates, and in recognition of this fact, along with the innovativeness of the venture, the Rotaract District Assembly awarded the Best Project for Professional Development to Ideas2010.
According to Dilina, the whole concept has grown steadily from its inception and has ballooned into an extremely successful project. “The whole programme has grown greatly from when we first began. We started off having about 10 projects on the site but now that number has grown to roughly 30 to 40. In fact sometimes we couldn’t use certain projects because the students were not equipped to undertake such tasks.”
Dilina says the Rotaract club still has a lot of potential ideas relating to both the site as well as the prospect of nurturing a relationship between various industries and students.
“In addition to the website we are also encouraging some of the companies to come down and conduct workshops so that students will have more opportunities to learn about the fields they want to progress into.”
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