Chief Guest at the recent Convocation of the Sri Lanka Institute of Information Technology (SLIIT) Minister of Higher Education S.B. Dissanayake highlighted the importance of raising the bar of IT and English in the country through focused training for university students.

“I am well aware of the services rendered to the nation by SLIIT, especially when it comes to Information Technology. Furthermore, our IT exports have become the fifth largest export earner in the country, and IT is now becoming a popular subject among schoolchildren. SLIIT has contributed in no small measure to such achievements, and single-handedly produced 5000 graduates and another 15,000 IT professionals, contributing almost 50% of all high level IT professionals in the country, and this has been achieved without any assistance from the government”.

“It has been brought to my awareness that SLIIT staff have written the school text General Information Technology for advanced students at no cost to the government, and over 10,000 copies of this book is being used in schools, with over 300 school teachers having received training by SLIIT to obtain the teachers’ diploma in IT”.

Other distinguished chief guests at SLIIT's Convocation included Professor Cliff Allan - Deputy Vice-Chancellor at Sheffield Hallam University (SHU) UK, and Kathy Klugman - High Commissioner for Australia. SLIIT's academic and industry partners were also present, including representatives from Curtin University - Australia and SHU - UK, and IFS, Mphasis, Virtusa, Epic Lanka, People’s Bank, FITIS and Metropolitan Computers.

The Institute witnessed 813 students graduate this year with BSc. and MSc. degrees, the highest number to graduate in one year to date.