{"id":655,"date":"2016-05-14T10:05:37","date_gmt":"2016-05-14T10:05:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/science.sjp.ac.lk\/insoc\/?p=655"},"modified":"2022-08-16T08:18:54","modified_gmt":"2022-08-16T08:18:54","slug":"careerfair-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/science.sjp.ac.lk\/insoc\/2016\/05\/14\/careerfair-3\/","title":{"rendered":"Pioneer effort to bridge the gap between University and Industry"},"content":{"rendered":"

The University of Sri Jayewardenepura has always been a well reputed educational institute that\u00a0produces highly qualified and well-rounded undergraduates to the academic and industrial world. In\u00a02013 the Faculty of Applied Sciences in University of Sri Jayewardenepura introduced a new four year\u00a0degree program, known as \u2018B.Sc. (Hons) degree in Applied Sciences\u2019, which is specifically focused to\u00a0cater the industrial needs. This degree program covers areas such as, Management Science, Statistics,\u00a0Computer Science, Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, Economics, Plant Biotechnology, Plant Biology,\u00a0Environmental Management and Forestry &amp; Polymer Science and Technology.\u00a0With the two years\u2019 progressive existence of the degree program, the \u2018Society of Industrial Scholars\u2019 was\u00a0formulated by its student body in 2016 with a motive of continuous improvement. The first biggest\u00a0event organized by this society, \u201cThe Workshop Series &amp; Career Fair 2016\u201d was a remarkable event in\u00a0the history of the Faculty of Applied Sciences in University of Sri Jayewardenepura.\u00a0The initial objective of this event was to find internship opportunities for its students, in order to\u00a0complete an implant training coupled with an industrial based research in their fourth year final\u00a0semester as part of the degree program. However later, the objectives developed to \u2018bridging the gap\u00a0between the University students and the industry\u2019 in terms of leadership, soft-skills and public speaking\u00a0skills. With this new objective the whole event was opened for all the interested undergraduates and\u00a0recently passed out graduates.\u00a0Preparations for the event commenced with setting up the Organizing committee 3 weeks prior to the\u00a0event. The Organizing committee of the Society of Industrial Scholars included 21 energetic\u00a0undergraduates from all different fields who worked day and night providing ultimate contribution.\u00a0Workshops organized by the Career Fair organizing committee, worth a special mention here. From 25th\u00a0to 27th April 2016 a series of workshops was conducted by well reputed resource persons.<\/p>\n

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The opening ceremony was graced by Mr. Mahesh Jayasinghe, the Executive Coach and Consultant of\u00a0Mpower Softskills Pvt. Ltd. with a spectacular and persuasive session on leadership, followed by\u00a0illustrative sessions on soft skills development and personal grooming on which added value for the\u00a0whole series.\u00a0The session on public speaking was conducted by the Toastmaster Sandun Fernando, which inspired the\u00a0audience to a greater extent towards developing their English vocabulary and effective use of postures\u00a0and gestures while addressing a gathering.\u00a0The thought provoking session on Interview facing session was conducted by Ms. Ayona Hettiarachchi,\u00a0HR Executive MAS Intimo, Biyagama, giving a full insight to students on how to face an interview which\u00a0helped them immensely to get through the career fair interviews confidently.\u00a0Most importantly the session on CV writing was conducted by Mrs. Chathurangani Tennakoon, Career\u00a0Advisor at the Career Guidance Unit in the University.<\/p>\n

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On 29th of April the Career fair 2016 commenced with the special discussion \u2018Industry-University Linkage\u2019 between Prof. Sudantha Liyanage, Dean of the Faculty of Applied Sciences & Dr. Pahan Godakumbura representing the University and 42 Industrial representatives from top Companies in Sri Lanka.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Career Fair marked a milestone in the history of events organized by the Society of Industrial\u00a0Scholars with the valuable participation of top companies in Sri Lanka including MAS Holdings, Brandix,\u00a0Astron Limited, Coca-Cola, Sampath Bank, Hayleys PLC, Millennium IT, hSenid, Hirdaramani, Embla\u00a0Software Innovations, etc. Interviews were conducted on the day of the career fair by these companies,who were given the choice of either sort applicants themselves on the event date or to conduct walk in\u00a0interviews.<\/p>\n

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As per the records, 149 well-groomed, fresh undergraduates equipped with knowledge and experience\u00a0gathered from the workshops, confidently faced the interviews throughout the day. It was a very joyful\u00a0news for some of them as they were directly given the letters of appointment, and some were invited\u00a0for follow up interviews on the same day.<\/p>\n

Just after a two weeks\u2019 time when looking back at the event, it was a huge task, more or less a very\u00a0challenging one considering the limited 3 weeks\u2019 time frame given for organizing. But the committee\u2019s\u00a0dedication, hard work, determination &amp; the proper guidance and support extended by Dr. Pahan\u00a0Godakumbura, the Coordinator of the B.Sc. Honors Degree Program has finally enabled the completionof the event with so much of success.<\/p>\n

Within the two weeks\u2019 time after the event more than 45% of the candidates has been selected or has\u00a0been invited to follow up interviews by the companies. Following the enthusiastic feedback provided by\u00a0both; the companies &amp; the participants, the organizing committee expects to conduct a second series of\u00a0workshops and Career Fair in 2017.<\/p>\n

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Looking at the success of the event, the organizing committee of Society of Industrial Scholars extends\u00a0their heartiest appreciation and well wishes for all participated organizations &amp; their representatives,\u00a0MAS Holdings for being their biggest support as the main event sponsor, Brandix Group for being the\u00a0printing partner and Astron Limited providing great support in making this event a reality.<\/p>\n

Also a special word of thanks is extended to Prof Sudantha Liyanage, dean of the Faculty of Applied\u00a0Sciences and Dr. Pahan Godakumbura, the coordinator of the B.Sc. Honors Degree program for the\u00a0countless support given throughout the organizing of this event.<\/p>\n

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Article by \u00a0Hiruni Jayathma ,\u00a0Photographed by Kaushika Devanarayana<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The University of Sri Jayewardenepura has always been a well reputed educational institute that\u00a0produces highly qualified and well-rounded undergraduates to the academic and industrial world. In\u00a02013 the Faculty of Applied … Continue reading Pioneer effort to bridge the gap between University and Industry<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":645,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_ti_tpc_template_sync":false,"_ti_tpc_template_id":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/science.sjp.ac.lk\/insoc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/655"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/science.sjp.ac.lk\/insoc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/science.sjp.ac.lk\/insoc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/science.sjp.ac.lk\/insoc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/science.sjp.ac.lk\/insoc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=655"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/science.sjp.ac.lk\/insoc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/655\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":672,"href":"https:\/\/science.sjp.ac.lk\/insoc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/655\/revisions\/672"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/science.sjp.ac.lk\/insoc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/645"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/science.sjp.ac.lk\/insoc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=655"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/science.sjp.ac.lk\/insoc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=655"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/science.sjp.ac.lk\/insoc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=655"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}