Working Hard for a Pay Hike
The non academic staff of all universities in the country demonstrated opposite the University Grants Commission (UGC) yesterday demanding higher salaries.
Friday, August 5, 2011
Non-academic staff demand their pound of flesh
Island
August 4, 2011, 10:19 pmby Dasun Edirisinghe
In the wake of government agreeing to increase the salaries of university dons, the non-academic staff of universities, have demanded that anomalies in their salaries be rectified immediately.
Hundreds of non-academics staged a protest opposite the University Grants Commission (UGC) in Colombo yesterday demanding immediate rectification of their salary anomalies.
The protest led to a major traffic jam at Ward Place, Town Hall and the surrounding roads during the peak school closure time for the August holidays at noon yesterday.
The protestors held placards with slogans calling upon the government to rectify their salary anomalies soon.
Addressing their members, president of the Inter University Trade Union Federation R. M. Chandrasena said that the government had been ignoring the problem from 2006, but they could not wait anymore.
"Academics alone cannot run universities without their support," Chandrasena said, adding that they take tough trade union action if the government fails to address their problem immediately.
He said that past governments had cheated them and finally the present Higher Education Minister S. B. Dissanayake had promised to rectify their salary anomalies, but so far he had not honoured his promise, but agreed to the demands of teachers.
Chandrapala said that it was unfortunate that the governments did not pay heed to the needs of workers.
Students withdraw case
Island
August 4, 2011, 10:48 pm
By Chitra Weerarathne
Student groups, of three universities, who had filed Writ Application against the submission of resignations letters by Heads of the University Departments, yesterday withdrew their Applications in view of the settlement of the issue in question.
The students had complained that their academic studies were disrupted, due to the submission of resignations by Heads of Departments and the acceptance of the same by the Chancellors of the Universities and the University Grants Commission. Yesterday, Faiz Mustapha PC who appeared for the petitioner students said that the issue in question was settled and the petitioners need not pursue the petitions.
These student groups were from Wayamba, Ruhuna and Sri Jayawardenepura Universities.
The Bench comprised Justices Sriskandarajah (President, Court of Appeal) and Nalin Perera.
August 4, 2011, 10:48 pm
By Chitra Weerarathne
Student groups, of three universities, who had filed Writ Application against the submission of resignations letters by Heads of the University Departments, yesterday withdrew their Applications in view of the settlement of the issue in question.
The students had complained that their academic studies were disrupted, due to the submission of resignations by Heads of Departments and the acceptance of the same by the Chancellors of the Universities and the University Grants Commission. Yesterday, Faiz Mustapha PC who appeared for the petitioner students said that the issue in question was settled and the petitioners need not pursue the petitions.
These student groups were from Wayamba, Ruhuna and Sri Jayawardenepura Universities.
The Bench comprised Justices Sriskandarajah (President, Court of Appeal) and Nalin Perera.
Petitions against Varsity Dept. Heads withdrawn
Dailymirror
The Writ petitions seeking orders from the Court of Appeal restraining the Heads of Departments of Wayamba, Jayawardanapura, Ruhunu and Peradeniya Universities from ceasing to carry out their duties were yesterday (4) withdrawn by the Petitioner undergraduate students.
Counsel for the Petitioners moved to withdraw these petitions as there was a possibility of resolving the issue outside the court.
The Bench comprising Justices S.Sriskandarajah (President) and H.N.J.Perera allowed the move and dismissed the petitions pro forma.
Thursday, August 4, 2011
Home / MAIN IMAGE / MIT’s first Asian initiative buds young Lankan entrepreneurs
For the first time in Asia, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Accelerating Information Technology Innovation Initiative (MIT AITI) in collaboration with the University of Moratuwa (UOM) hosted Demo Day 2011 yesterday, the culmination of a unique start-up incubator during which six teams of young entrepreneurs from the UOM pitched six start-ups based on mobile technology before an audience of distinguished guests from industry, academia and government.
AITI is a Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) programme that promotes economic development in emerging regions by cultivating a new generation of young technology entrepreneurs. Since its launch in 2000, AITI has conducted 32 programmes in six African countries and in total over 1,800 students have participated in a variety of intensive courses, from web programming to mobile technology.
This year marks AITI’s inaugural programme in Sri Lanka and at the same time marked this programme’s entrance into Asia, in cooperation with the University of Moratuwa. Through a demanding six week programme, AITI has guided six teams of UOM students in building real mobile software start-ups. At the Demo Day, each team publicly pitched their start-ups with the goal of attracting a round of funding and ultimately launch a profitable and sustainable enterprise.
With a panel of judges consisting of representatives from the three largest mobile service providers in Sri Lanka – Dialog, Mobitel and Etisalat, who were also co-sponsors of the event, as well as two other entrepreneurs from WSO2 and Microimage respectively evaluating the six start-ups, 29 students divided into groups of six presented their innovative start-ups based on mobile technology.
“Six weeks ago, we embarked on a pretty audacious journey. We took a big risk and decided that within six weeks we would, with some of the best students in this country, build up six start ups in such a brief period of time, start-ups based on mobile technology and today, we are happy to announce that we have been absolutely successful and today six start-ups will be launched,” stated the lead entrepreneurship instructor with MIT AITI Samidh Chakrabarti. “Our programme is meant not only to produce companies, but to increase both innovator and investor confidence in a market whose time has come and this event is intended to serve as a catalyst for technology entrepreneurship in the Sri Lankan market, which is rich in technical talent.”
The programme which commenced on 27 June saw the students put to the test by three MIT-affiliated instructors who have been coaching a select group of twenty-nine UOM students in how to build software start-ups. The teams have undergone rigorous training in both business and technology en route to developing mobile applications that provide innovative solutions to important problems.
Previous AITI courses in other nations have been incredibly successful with several start-ups achieving profitability and serving as job creators in their regions. Given the technical sophistication of UOM, AITI believes that its programmes in Sri Lanka can break new ground.
MIT’s first Asian initiative buds young Lankan entrepreneurs
Published : 12:19 am August 4, 2011 | No comments so far | 
By Cassandra Mascarenhas For the first time in Asia, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Accelerating Information Technology Innovation Initiative (MIT AITI) in collaboration with the University of Moratuwa (UOM) hosted Demo Day 2011 yesterday, the culmination of a unique start-up incubator during which six teams of young entrepreneurs from the UOM pitched six start-ups based on mobile technology before an audience of distinguished guests from industry, academia and government.
AITI is a Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) programme that promotes economic development in emerging regions by cultivating a new generation of young technology entrepreneurs. Since its launch in 2000, AITI has conducted 32 programmes in six African countries and in total over 1,800 students have participated in a variety of intensive courses, from web programming to mobile technology.This year marks AITI’s inaugural programme in Sri Lanka and at the same time marked this programme’s entrance into Asia, in cooperation with the University of Moratuwa. Through a demanding six week programme, AITI has guided six teams of UOM students in building real mobile software start-ups. At the Demo Day, each team publicly pitched their start-ups with the goal of attracting a round of funding and ultimately launch a profitable and sustainable enterprise.
With a panel of judges consisting of representatives from the three largest mobile service providers in Sri Lanka – Dialog, Mobitel and Etisalat, who were also co-sponsors of the event, as well as two other entrepreneurs from WSO2 and Microimage respectively evaluating the six start-ups, 29 students divided into groups of six presented their innovative start-ups based on mobile technology.
“Six weeks ago, we embarked on a pretty audacious journey. We took a big risk and decided that within six weeks we would, with some of the best students in this country, build up six start ups in such a brief period of time, start-ups based on mobile technology and today, we are happy to announce that we have been absolutely successful and today six start-ups will be launched,” stated the lead entrepreneurship instructor with MIT AITI Samidh Chakrabarti. “Our programme is meant not only to produce companies, but to increase both innovator and investor confidence in a market whose time has come and this event is intended to serve as a catalyst for technology entrepreneurship in the Sri Lankan market, which is rich in technical talent.”
The programme which commenced on 27 June saw the students put to the test by three MIT-affiliated instructors who have been coaching a select group of twenty-nine UOM students in how to build software start-ups. The teams have undergone rigorous training in both business and technology en route to developing mobile applications that provide innovative solutions to important problems.
Previous AITI courses in other nations have been incredibly successful with several start-ups achieving profitability and serving as job creators in their regions. Given the technical sophistication of UOM, AITI believes that its programmes in Sri Lanka can break new ground.
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