IIT internships for ISBM pave way for highly-paid careers

Monday, 18 August 2014 00:02 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

As the pioneer in the provision of UK degrees in Sri Lanka, the Informatics Institute of Technology (IIT) has produced as many as 3,000 graduates since its inception back in 1990. Renowned for its comprehensive, rounded education, IIT courses are geared to prepare students with practical knowhow and the skills necessary for their careers in the real world, be it in the fields of business or IT. A key aspect of the degrees offered at IIT is the internship that is provided to students in their third year of studies. This carefully conceived internship integrates knowledge with experience and equips a student to approach the complex problems of the working world, enabling the application of their knowledge outside the classroom by putting theory into practice. It also beefs up a student’s portfolio or resume which in turn can be essential to landing on the ideal job upon graduation. A recent recipient of the IIT internships, Dinali Jayawardena, who had just completed the third year of her degree in

Information Systems with Business Management (ISBM) at IIT spoke of her experience in this sphere and stated, “The most important factor in choosing an internship was that I could select a company in an industry which interested me and which I considered was valuable as a starting point in my career. Having wanted to specialise in Marketing in the FMCG sector I was delighted to be offered the opportunity to work at Fonterra.” “During my time at Fonterra the marketing department offered me an exposure to all areas of the marketing mix, where I got the opportunity to handle and be involved in large projects for Anchor Newdale, which is one of the leading brands of Fonterra. I found that in this field of work you have to be creative and insightful, where you have to rise to the challenge of responding to changing consumer demands which are constantly evolving and to come up with strategies that meet the market and satisfy demand,” she said. “It’s also quite a challenging place to work, so pretty quickly you’ve got to be able to listen to constructive criticism and learn from it. You’ve got to be confident in your own abilities and brave enough to take your ideas forward. I was given the freedom to implement my own ideas for some of the projects I was working on and I really felt that I had an important role to play in my team and for the company. “I handled all the aspects of creating a brand communications program that included liasing with advertising agencies, handling promotional material for campaigns and executing consumer promotions and sponsorships. This early responsibility made my internship very exciting and provided me with many valuable insights as well as the direct benefits of industry experience, my internship also improved my skills in building team work, organisational time management and communication skills,” she said. “Experiencing the business from every functional perspective, bringing them altogether into one sound strategy and execution, as well as injecting my own creativity in the mix was a really fantastic opportunity for me. I believe this experience has given me leadership abilities that have pushed me to improve my skills and add to my experience. For instance if I wasn’t given this opportunity to work in a leading FMCG organisation, I would not have the sound all-round business experience and knowledge that I have today. To me, that means I would not have the same solid understanding about how all the functional areas within the organisation work where you take projects from concept through to the first phases of itslaunch,” she said. “Overall I could say that I had a great time working at an organisation such as Fonterra that was certainly a centre of innovation and I found my working experience there to be fast-paced, challenging and rewarding,” she said. Dinali Jayawardena