SLT opens Technology Campus

Only 12% of the students who sat the Advanced Level examination over the past few years secured a seat in a local university, according to statistics.

In 2011, of the 239,744 students who sat the Advanced Levels, 141,411 qualified for admission to local universities of which about 28,000 were admitted. This disparity leads to social and economic issues that aggravate into bigger problems.

Of the 28,908 students who applied for local university engineering degree programs only 1,500 were selected. The increasing demand for higher education is seen in the large numbers registering as off campus students and leaving the country to study abroad.

To overcome this situation, in 2014, Sri Lanka Telecom (SLT) launched the Sri Lanka Technological Campus (SLTC) to realize Sri Lanka's vision of becoming the knowledge hub in Asia. Fully owned by Sri Lanka Telecom, the SLTC will offer a full four-year degree program to students, providing sound theoretical, practical and analytical knowledge with the fundamentals of engineering and technology.

Chairman, SLTC, Kumarasinghe Sirisena said, "The SLT Group with its industry expertise spanning over 150 years, will support the infrastructure, academic program and most importantly has the industrial experience to conduct a recognized, comprehensive and affordable program for students. This venture complements the Government's ambition of transforming Sri Lanka into a knowledge based economy."

CEO SLTC, Ranjith Rubasinghe said, "The introduction of the SLT Campus will address the increasing demand for a path in Engineering and Technology. It will also bring in the much needed hands-on corporate experience thus transforming students into graduates able to take up employment as soon as they obtain their degrees."

The SLT Campus has the option of admitting 100 students each year for the BSc in Engineering degree with the option of increasing this number year-on-year.

The curriculum for this four-year course has been approved by the University Grants Commission.

The Campus is at the SLT Satellite Station in Padukka. The administrative office and the city campus is at Trace Expert City, Maradana.