While an Information and Communication Technology Agency study indicates that 7,500 IT graduates are required annually to achieve the IT-BPO industry's objective of becoming Sri Lanka's second largest export earner, the current output of IT graduates from both institutions, private and public, may prove inadequate to meet these targets.
However, the targets could be achieved if barriers pertaining to availability, accessibility and affordability of IT education are surmounted, according to Sri Lanka Institute of Information Technology (SLIIT) Founder, President and Chief Executive, Prof. Lalith Gamage.
 In an interview with the Sunday Times FT, Prof. Gamage suggested that the biggest hurdle to achieving the desired output levels of IT graduates was affordability. Indicating that even SLIIT's charging of a basic, 'cost recovery' fee of Rs. 500,000 for a four year degree programme was still not cost effective enough for many prospective students, he called upon the industry to sponsor more students to facilitate increased enrollment in IT fields so that the 7,500 IT graduates per year requirement could be achieved. In 2009, SLIIT graduated 700 IT students and expects this number to go up to 1,400 by 2012, while, in 2008, the school accepted close to 2,000 students.
Further, the institute currently maintains a student enrollment of 4,500 as well as 100 academic staff. In addition, of the over 10,000 IT professionals locally, SLIIT currently produces one-third and has plans to eventually increase this proportion to one-half of all local IT professionals. For SLIIT's part, Prof. Gamage indicated that, with the institute's 10-year vision to become a top university (not just IT) in the region and by attracting foreign students who could pay fees beyond the 'cost recovery' levels of local students, there would eventually be the possibility that extra amounts earned by SLIIT be used to create a scholarship programme and enroll more students.
Further, commenting on SLIIT's tradition of research and its importance, Prof. Gamage suggested that, as standards of living increased, sectors such as IT-BPO could not be maintained indefinitely as their focus was on finding cheaper resources and, as such, the future for these and other fields were in creating Intellectual Property, which was developed through research. He further predicted a greater shift towards this area in the next 10 years.
Referring to SLIIT's Concept Nursery programme, where the school partners with a venture capital firm and two IT companies to mentor budding business opportunities amongst students, Prof. Gamage indicated that this was an area entered into to facilitate job creation and commercialise research. He further noted that Concept Nursery had so far resulted in 30 companies; out of which 12 proved successful, ultimately employing 600 people.
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