"Challenges & Opportunities for the Employable Graduate"

The common complaints are that the graduates from the State Universities do not possess the knowledge, the skills and the proper attitudes expected by the employers. Their knowledge is not relevant to the needs of the employers. They lack sufficient skills in English and ICT, do not possess the proper attitudes, team skills, confidence and the positive outlook that is required to undertake the challenging job and are not able to perform from day one.

While some of these claims are justified, there are questions as to what the Universities can do to overcome these complaints, and more importantly whether the employers, especially in the private sector have given enough thought and have done enough to maximize the capabilities and the potential of these graduates, who as the cream of their age cohort have entered the State Universities for their higher education.

In order to create a healthy discussion in this regard, the HR & Education Steering Committee of the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce in association with the University of Moratuwa has organised a Presentation & Panel Discussion on Monday 06th September 2010 from 5 pm onwards at the Ground Floor Auditorium of the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce.

Prof. Ranasinghe, will use evidence based experience at the University of Moratuwa, to make a case for the Challenges and Opportunities for the Employable Graduate from the State Universities of Sri Lanka. He will challenge some of the accepted conventional wisdom about the role of the University and the Employer and demonstrate that with more enlightened thinking by both, the University and the Employer, the Graduates, the Industry and the Society can benefit immensely. This will be followed by a panel discussion with the Presenter, Dr. Anura Ekanayake, Chairman of the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce and Ms. Dilani Alagaratnam, President, Group HR, Legal & Secretarial, John Keells Holdings PLC.