JKH Transportation Group boosts logistics industry

The Transportation Group of John Keells Holdings awarded 26 university scholarships to Transportation & Logistics undergraduates of the University of Moratuwa recently as part of its five year partnership with the Transport and Logistics Management Faculty of the University of Moratuwa.

The event was held on 7t November 2011 and the scholarship awards coincided with the certificate distribution ceremony of the English Language Scholarship Programme and the Mentoring Programme, the former of which is also sponsored by the John Keells Group for undergraduates reading for the Bachelor of Science degree in Transport and Logistics Management (BSc. T&LM Hons.) at the University of Moratuwa.

A total of 26 university scholarships were awarded to the students: Seven merit scholarships to each of second, third and fourth year students, and five need based scholarships for first year students. The merit based scholarships reward academic excellence and overall performance while the need based scholarships help first year students reach their potential.

“Since the inception of this degree programme JKH has awarded 80 scholarships and provided training in Business English to over 250 undergraduates at a cost of almost Rs. 5 million. The first batch to pass out from this degree programme last year was snapped up by the industry within months,” Romesh David, President, Transportation Group, John Keells Holdings PLC said.

The English Language Scholarship Programme and the Mentoring Programme are aimed at enhancing the general capabilities and soft skills of the students. Certificates of completion were awarded to second year students who completed the mentoring programme. This programme involves the mentoring of students by senior professionals in the transportation and logistics field. The mentors were from private and public sector organisations in the industry.

The CSR arm of John Keells Holdings, the John Keells Foundation (JKF) sponsored the English Language Scholarship Programme. This programme was offered to all first year students and is of immense benefit to the students since the degree programme is conducted in English. This year an innovative concept of an ‘immersion camp’ was introduced: students had to spend 5 days doing activities in English and speaking only in English.

Commenting further, David said: “I believe that the rising level of collaboration between the private sector and universities is gradually but surely bringing about this cultural shift in higher education, which more than anything, better equips these talented youngsters as the sharp end of the professional workforce of the future.”

Speaking on behalf of the Transport and Logistics Management Faculty of the University of Moratuwa, Professor Amal Kumarage, who is also the Chairman of the National Transport Commission, stated that knowledge, skills and attitude were all equally important in preparing students to join the workforce. He pointed out that while it excelled in imparting technical knowledge to its students, the University counted on industry to assist in imparting soft skills to and instill the right attitude in students. The Head of the Transportation and Logistics Department Professor T. Sivakumar reinforced these sentiments by saying that the students became more self confident after going through the mentoring programme.