Colombo University holds “Stat Day”
View(s):The Stat Circle, a society formed by the students of the Faculty of Science, University of Colombo, held “Stat Day 2017”, on March 30 at the main auditorium of the Faculty of Graduate Studies.
It was attended by many distinguished guests from the government sector, private sector and academia, and undergraduates from state universities and school students.
The aims of the Stat Circle are to enhance the statistical knowledge of the students and the outside community and to communicate and exchange ideas with other societies, universities, the industry and school children, the association said.
The keynote speech for the event was delivered by Dr. Indrajit Coomaraswamy, Governor of Central Bank of Sri Lanka, who said the role of statistics is becoming increasingly important today with the advancement in technology revolutionizing the way data is collected and processed.
Statistical information provide a useful basis for the formulation of decisions by individuals, by businesses, and by policy makers, he said.
“The Central Bank has developed updated sophisticated modelling techniques such as factor augmented vector auto-regression models and the Bayesian vector auto-regression models for near term forecasting and Neo Keynesian open economy model for medium term forecast. These have become common workhorse models in forecasting policy analysis within the Central Bank and they play a very important role in the everyday work of the organization,” he said.
Dr. Amara Satharasinghe, Director General of the Department of Census and Statistics, in his speech said that statisticians together with the relevant stake holders have a role in making available these statistics accurately, reliably and in time as these are essential to show where the goals are being met and where they are not and focus the attention on the need for immediate action.