The Institute of Personnel Management Sri Lanka (IPM) which was founded in 1959 and incorporated in 1976 by an Act of Parliament, was recently appointed as President of the Asia Pacific Federation of Human Resource Management (APFHRM), and in consequence of which, as a board member of the World Federation of Personnel Management Associations (WFPMA) IPM President Daya Bollegala announced last week.

IPM has now established collaborative relationship with the University of Southern Queensland to offer a programme of studies leading to Master of Management (HRM) as a specialization. This master's degree study course will be of two-year duration comprising 12 courses. "Each year there will be three semesters and each semester will consist of two courses. Each semester will be of 12 weeks duration," Bollegala told a news conference at 'HR House', the headquarters of IPM.

The 12 courses are Information System for Managers, Accounting for Managers, Management and Organizational Behaviour, Marketing Management, Economic for Managers, Strategic Management, Dispute Resolution, Entrepreneurship, Innovation and creativity and four out of Performance Management and People Development, Global Issues in Employment Relations, Leading Organisational Change, Strategic Management of Human Resources and Innovation and Management Consulting.

A key activity at IPM is education and training. In addition to the Master of Management, study programme and also available for the National Diploma in Human Resource Management, Diploma in Human Resource Management, Certificate Course in HRM (English/Sinhala), Certificate Course in HRM for Managers in Non-HR fields, Certificate Course in HR Development, Foundation Course in Human Resource Management (English/Sinhala), English for Management and Diploma in English, he said.