The University of Colombo and the Ceylon Association of Ships’ Agents (CASA) have formulated the curricula for a special Bachelor Degree in Transportation Economics and Commercial Shipping, with the university providing the academic content and CASA the professional and practical.

Students qualifying to take up economics at the University of Colombo for their first degree can specialise in Transport Economics and Commercial Shipping with lectures to be conducted by academics and professionals of the shipping industry.

"Shipping is an under-developed sector but it has the potential to be a growth sector in the future and the university is preparing the human resources for this," Senior Lecturer of the Department of Economics, University of Colombo, Professor Sirimal Abeyratne told the Island Financial Review.

"Transport Economics is a broad field but we have narrowed it down to commercial shipping.

"We would provide the theoretical foundation while CASA would provide professionals from the industry to lecture on the professional and practical aspects of shipping.

"Each student would also be required to undergo a period of internship with a shipping company affiliated to CASA during the last semester," Prof Abeyratne said.

"Another important thing about this degree programme is that it is a private-public partnership which strives to create employable graduates," he said.

Chairman of the Training and Development Committee of CASA, Jayantha Rathnayake, said the idea to have specialised degree for shipping was mooted by him in 2007.

"Sri Lanka has a history of youth unrest and one way out of this is to make our graduates employable. Our collaboration with the University of Colombo will not only do this, but graduates who successfully complete the course will be absorbed into Sri Lanka’s growing shipping industry," Rathnayake told the Island Financial Review.

"There is a dearth of professional in the shipping industry and if the industry is to grow we would have to develop our human resources. We are also losing professionals due to brain drain but there is a lull in the number of people the industry is losing," he said.