Sri Lanka Foundation and Shippers’ Academy join hands for training

A pioneering Sri Lankan institution for adult education, the Sri Lanka Foundation (SLFI) entered a memorandum of understanding with the Shippers’ Academy Colombo (SA), a specialised training institute for global commerce and logistics, to develop capacity building programmes and to conduct joint training as a new initiative, creating a strong public private partnership.

The two institutions have agreed to work hand in hand to share resources in order to develop new career paths for employment seekers as well as to educate employees of the industry. The Shippers’ Academy Colombo which works in technical collaboration with the Singapore Shippers’ Academy has developed many courses relating to global commerce and logistics.

It has also commonly developed programmes with other state institutions in specialised fields, such as shipping, customs, port, trade facilitation etc. The focus of training is based on bringing in the latest knowledge and information to the trade through short courses. The Shippers’ Academy has also got approval from the Merchant Shipping Division to conduct related logistics courses and has also got clearance to conduct courses to other Government institutions such as the Sri Lanka Army.

While the SLFI and SA will jointly conduct some courses, Shippers’ Academy will also transfer all its external courses to the Sri Lanka Foundation which has excellent training facilities. In addition to this, the curriculum of these courses will be certified by the International Chamber of Commerce Sri Lanka (ICCSL), which has a global recognition in over 120 countries.

Sri Lanka Foundation Chairman Professor Ranjith Bandara said that this MOU will allow the foundation to expand its activities, especially in emerging areas of the hub activities as envisaged by the Government of Sri Lanka. “The focus of the Government is to make Sri Lanka a shipping, aviation, logistics and a training hub, therefore we can train our youth with the necessary tools and skills to cater to the demands of the market,” said Prof. Bandara.

Shippers’ Academy Colombo CEO Rohan Masakorala said that it is a unique event that such a strong public private venture has been entered into in the field of global commerce and logistics.

“This collaboration will give strength to both our institutions and will give an opportunity not only to the people from Colombo but employable youth from out station to gather knowledge in the fields of global commerce and logistics. We are also confident that these courses that are conducted at the SLF will give value to employers and businesses as well as greater opportunity for our youth to get into the highly paid logistics and global commerce industry locally and internationally.”

The SLF and SA Colombo through this memorandum of understanding will focus on delivering high quality products with the national goal of achieving skilled and educated youth to take Sri Lanka to a highly competitive platform in the global environment. The courses will be available from May 2012 onwards.