By Chittaranjan de Silva
Sri Lankan graduates are in with a unique opportunity of obtaining a postgraduate M.Sc. in Information Technology from a leading British university, without having to leave the country, Informatics Institute of Technology (IIT) announced last Wednesday.

Director, IIT, Dr. Keerthi Premadasa speaking at the inauguration of this M.Sc. in Information Technology course, said the Keele University of UK, which has a reputed postgraduate program, has offered to conduct post M.Sc. courses in Sri Lanka in collaboration with IIT.

He said that IIT has served the IT industry by producing IT qualified professionals to the local market.

Secretary, Ministry of Information Technology, Prof. R. P. Gunawardena, the chief guest at this occasion, said that IT professionals are in great demand. He stressed that the lack of qualified skilled professionals is the number one problem affecting the IT industry in Sri Lanka. Four areas have been identified by the ministry for development of the IT industry, he said.

Gunawardena explained that education and training of IT personnel, introducing an electronic culture to the public administration though e-governance and infrastructure development in the IT industry are some of these areas.

Dr. Chris Hauxley, from the Keele University who took the "initiative to launch the course in Sri Lanka," said the same examination structure used in the UK would be used here. Same assessments held there would be held here within the same time frame.