Sandbox and University of Kelaniya launch partnership to upskill students, bridge local skill gap

The University of Kelaniya and Sandbox Consultancy Services took a historical step towards providing international standard skills and competency development training and digitised competency assessments and skill profiles to their students. The program will be launched by the Faculty of Management and Commerce and cascaded to encompass all faculties of the University over the next five years.

The launch of this project was signified by the signing of a MoU between the two organisations on 1 June.

Under the partnership Sandbox will empower the University with a structured long-term curriculum and access to its faculty of expert resources and facilitators, online competency assessments and people analytics platforms. The objective of the program will be to bridge the skill gap currently experienced in Sri Lanka by incorporating the same rigorous development standards observed in the corporate sector at student level.

In addition, Sandbox will actively support the University in developing competencies of the University faculty members and empowering them with state-of-the-art techniques and technologies for furthering learning and development.

Sandbox, an industry leader in the Sri Lankan Human Capital and Talent Development space presently caters to many leading conglomerates, multi-nationals and large private and public listed corporations in developing executive, management and leadership level competencies. The organisation has been a pioneer in locally developed digitised assessments and people analytics currently used by leading organisations in the region.

“We are truly honoured to partner with The University of Kelaniya on this historic platform. I believe the University of Kelaniya, and its Faculty of Management and Commerce have risen to that occasion at a critical moment in Sri Lanka’s journey.

The key to developing Sri Lanka is in empowering and developing its youth and the next generation of leaders, public and private sector employees at the earliest possible stage of their development. Our vision for developing the Sri Lankan talent pool has been to bring international development standards and corporate training directly to the level of the undergraduate. We believe providing them with this level of training and exposure early on will exponentially increase their ability to deliver better and more innovative solutions to both the private and public sector. Further, it is imperative that data and analytics are incorporated into assessment of such competencies and skills. The need for data driven decision making has never been more critical than it is today.

At the end of the day, it is about future proofing our youth and giving them the best possible chance to develop Sri Lanka,” stated Sandbox Consultancy Services Managing Director and Principal Consultant Angelo de Silva.

The University of Kelaniya, is one of the country’s leading and prestigious Universities ranked third in Sri Lanka by The World University Rankings. Having recently celebrated 60 years of excellence, they have pioneered a number of new developments in Higher Education during the last four decades. Producing over 3,000 graduates each year, through seven different faculties including 56 academic departments, offering programs in both graduate and post graduate levels.

The mission of the Faculty of Commerce and Management Studies of the University of Kelaniya, who has worked very fast to launch this initiative, is to “produce academically and professionally competent personnel to take up managerial positions in organisations, create an entrepreneurial culture, and broaden the horizon of knowledge pertaining to the discipline of Commerce and Management.”

Faculty of Commerce and Management Studies Dean Dr. Narada Fernando said: “We are pleased to sign this MoU with Sandbox Consultancy Services Ltd., as we believe this collaboration will create a platform for our undergraduates to secure industry opportunities through developing their interpersonal skills”. Furthermore, Faculty of Commerce and Management Studies Department of Finance Head Professor Ruwan Abeysekera stated: “I believe this MoU will help to uplift the soft skills of our undergraduates and enhance their employability in the industry.”

This partnership stems from a shared ethos of producing high quality and well-rounded graduates who are ready for the rigors of the current global workplace. While many academic purists focus on knowledge and qualification there has been a marked gap in the capabilities of students to display the attitude, aptitude and skill required to adapt and perform at today’s high-performance workplaces, both locally and globally. 

Given the wealth of talent available here, both Sandbox and the University of Kelaniya remain committed to empowering and enabling Sri Lankan students to shine brighter in every role they pursue and be on par if not better than global standards.