Certificates, gold medals for 800 students at IBSL Convocation

Around 800 students will receive certificates, gold medals and cash prizes at the 12th Annual Convocation of the Institute of Bankers of Sri Lanka (IBSL) on October 3 at the BMICH. In addition IBSL will also offer two honorary fellowships to two senior bankers who have made remarkable contributions to the banking industry.

The Chief Guest on the occasion will be the Chairman and Managing Director of Andra Bank India, Dr K. Ramakrishna while the Guest of Honour will be the Team leader of the ADB funded Distance Education Modernisation Project Vidya Jyothi Prof. Dayantha Wijesekera.

IBSL has already negotiated with foreign Universities and had arranged affiliations for the benefit of the members who have completed the IBSL programs to follow MBA programs.

These facilities are arranged direct and through distance learning which will be introduced by mid next year, said the Chairman of IBSL and Deputy Governor of the Central Bank W. A. Wijewardena. He said that already the University of Northumbria, UK recognises our qualifications and offers scholarships for our students to pursue higher studies provided they fulfil the qualifications on language requirements.

He said that IBSL will offer a Diploma program in Microfinance from early next year.

The Frankfurt School of Finance and Management in Germany in collaboration with GTZ is supporting us in this program. At present we only offer short courses in Micro Finance but this will be a comprehensive course.

Wijewardena said that the Bankers Training Institute (BTI) was set up in January 1964 to provide short term Banking courses for employees of the banks and in 1979 it was incorporated as the Institute of Bankers of Sri Lanka under an Act of Parliament. When it started it had a membership of around 900 and today it is around 28,000 with an active membership of around 12,500.

He said that a significant milestone of the IBSL was the accreditation with the ifs School of Finance, UK formerly known as Chartered Institute of Bankers(CIB) London. He said the course contents and examination material are regularly moderated by the IFS and the certificates are jointly issued by ifs and the IBSL.

The main professional qualifications offered by the IBSL are the Certificate in Banking and Finance (CBF) Advanced Certificate in Banking Finance (ACBF) and the Diploma in Banking and Finance(DBF) for which examinations are held twice a year in March and September. The examinations are conducted in all three languages.

SG