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SL2COLLEGE

The
News Letter

SL2College is a global community that provides free advice and guidance to Sri Lankan students who wish to pursuer their higher studies abroad & Sri Lanka. SL2College was envisioned in 2005 with the primary goal of helping Sri Lankan students access relevant information that would assist them make informed decisions about their educational goals.

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Seminars

April 2013 issue

Webinars
The SL2College Seminar team conducted two webinars on Google Hangout. One in January and one during the month of February. The webinar topics were Entrance to Overseas Medical schools and Standardized Tests for Undergraduate and Graduate Applications. The speaker panel for the Standardized Tests for Undergraduate and Graduate Applications comprised of Dileepa Manawadu (Representative of British Council Sri Lanka), Devini Senaratne (Graduate student from Stanford University), Ovini Rodrigo (Undergraduate student from Duke University) and Praneeth Wanigasekara (Past student of Stanford University). This seminar was viewed live by 91 viewers on the day of the seminar. The speaker panel for Entrance to Overseas Medical Schools seminar comprised of Oshadie Jayasundara (Medical student from Kursk State Medical University, Russia), Nilika Perera (past student from University of Southampton, UK), Abbas Asgerally (from Clarion University of Pennsylvania, USA) and Radhika Wijesooriya (Tianjin University, China). This seminar had 63 live views.

Local Seminar
A seminar on Higher Education and Career opportunities was held on the 5th of April at Richmond College, Galle. The seminar addressed 250 present and past A/L students. The speakers comprised of Dr. Sampath Gunawardena (Dean, Faculty of Medicine, University of Ruhuna), Dr. P. D. C Perera (Dean, Faculty of Engineering, University of Ruhuna) and Ms. Ruwaiha Razik (Program manager of SL2College Graduate Mentor program and visiting lecturer of Management). The Seminar team has two new members: Jayathi Anupama and Lojana Kanapathippillai. Jayathi is the new project lead for the webinar series.

Learn more about us at: www.sl2college.org or send us your suggestions & comments to: info@sl2college.org

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April 2013 issue Editorial team
The editorial team has been active in publishing articles in The Sunday Observer (weekly), Vidusara (weekly), Navaliya (bi-weekly) & The Weekly Thinakaran (monthly). The increased amounts of publishing have been made possible due to hard work by our project managers, editors and writers. Shashika Hewavitharana & Buddhi Hatharaliyadda, two new writers on the Sinhala editorial team have been doing a great job with Englishto-Sinhala article translations. As usual, we are looking for more writers and editors for each of the English, Sinhala & Tamil editorial teams. Please email Shanie at shanie@sl2college.org if youre interested in volunteering some of your time to work with us. The English editorial team has also been working on a series of inspiring and in-depth articles to be published on the Sunday Observer beginning this month. The goal is to promote the importance of higher education among the readers. On this note, we are also looking into a collaboration with a prominent Tamil newspaper in the North & East in order to educate students on the many options that may be available to them in terms of higher education. The Brain Gain team has finalized the content and name for the portal, which will be called WorkInSriLanka. The team is currently approaching industry bodies to partner on this venture as it should be a truly cross industry effort to bring talented individuals back to the country and develop human capital. The launch date for the portal has been tentatively set for May and a press conference is planned with the participation of media organizations covering print, radio and TV.

The

Marketing

Team building events

Sunday Times Mirror Magazine conducted an interview with Nayana Samaranayake, founder of SL2College, to discuss about the origin of SL2College as an organization, what its services are and how Sri Lankan students can make use of it as a tool to achieve their higher education dreams. Nayana explained how he started this as an online yahoo group and how it grew into a global organization with volunteers from all over world. He also introduced different products and services offered through SL2College including Online & Physical Seminars, Articles, Mentorship Program and Online Forum. The online version of this interview can be accessed at http://www.sundaytimes.lk/130224/magazine/free-of-chargeand-full-of-wisdom-34039.html

With the objective of giving SL2College volunteers exposure to business leaders and entrepreneurs in Sri Lanka, the SL2College Volunteer building team (Team Project V) has begun organizing monthly leadership forums. The January session was held with Dr. Sanjiva Weerawarna, Founder/CEO/Chairman of WSO2 Inc. 8 volunteers had the opportunity to learn how he started his journey, and then went on to found a world-class Sri Lankan organization.

Learn more about us at: www.sl2college.org or send us your suggestions & comments to: info@sl2college.org

News Letter

Brain Gain

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April 2013 issue
The February session featured Assistant Vice President-Supply Chain of Nestle Sri Lanka, Mr. Chathura Dissanayake. His talk gave our volunteers a different dimension to building a career. The session was followed by a very insightful Q&A session. The March session of the Monthly Leadership Forum, which is organized for the benefit of SL2College volunteers, was held with Mr. Hasith Dayanga Yaggahavita, Technology Manager of 99X Technology addressing the gathering. About 10 selected volunteers participated in the program, to get personal advice and guidance Team Project V is looking forward to organizing more monthly forums with some prominent personalities in Sri Lanka. We would like to invite all the SL2college volunteers based in Sri Lanka to participate in these wonderful opportunities. Edex 2013 - This was held from the 18th to the 20th of January 2013 at the BMICH, Colombo, and on the 25th and 26th of January at the Kandy City Center. SL2College maintained a stall at both these events, with the help of an unprecedented number of members/volunteers. The overall turnout for the event was comparatively higher than previous exhibitions, and the SL2College stall had approximately 1000 visitors.

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Edex

Learn more about us at: www.sl2college.org or send us your suggestions & comments to: info@sl2college.org

News Letter

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April 2013 issue
SL2C research team is seeking individuals interested in academic research. You can be a student or a professional in any field, but has an interest in learning about academic research methods. Research studies will primarily focus on obtaining and analysing information related to higher education in Sri Lanka. Please email info@sl2college.org with your resume, and with the title SL2C Research.

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say

Meet a team member


Ruwaiha Razik joined SL2College in March 2012, and is currently the PM of the graduate mentoring program. Her primary education was at Sacred Heart Convent, Galle, after which she attended University of Kelaniya to complete her Bachelors in Business Management. She then went on to do a Masters in Business Administration at Waseda University, Japan. She decided to join SL2C because she believed it was her duty to society to help another Sri Lankan realize his/her higher educational goals, and she believes this is a special platform for that. In her current role at SL2C, she is in charge of ensuring applicants to the graduate mentor program are paired up with suitable mentors who can provide them with the guidance they need. With regards to what SL2C could be doing differently, she believes its important that we branch outside of the Colombo area to give parents and students in outstation areas access to the wealth of services we offer. Her vision for SL2C in the next 5 years is to see it becoming a fully fledged organization working all around the country, with a strong physical presence. Finally, Ruwaiha would like to thank the volunteers who makes SL2C function; its their commitment and dedication that allows it to reach out to students in Sri Lanka.

Sandunie Liyanagamage

Editor

Sasanka Jayadasa, Nishad Jayasundara, Shanie Liyanagamage, Lakmal Padmakumara, Nayana Samaranayake, Dilini Warnakulasuriyarachchi

Contributing writers Design editor


Rangana Chandrasena

Learn more about us at: www.sl2college.org or send us your suggestions & comments to: info@sl2college.org

News Letter

SL2College Research Team

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