‘eCollege Lanka’ to create new software jobs for IT professionals

eCollege, a provider of comprehensive eLearning technology and services to education in the US, recently commenced operations in Colombo with the launch of “eCollege Lanka”, thus formalising the company’s current presence in Sri Lanka.

eCollege Lanka, an extension of eCollege, begins operations with a team of 40+ software professionals and follows a recent investment agreement of $540,000 with the Board of Investment to generate a range of new employment opportunities for software development engineers in Sri Lanka, the company said.

The new agreement upgrades an existing Build Operate and Transfer (BOT) agreement initiated in April 2004 between eCollege and a global IT outsourcing company in Colombo. With its Software Development Centre and Quality Assurance Office on Level 13 of the World Trade Centre’s West Tower, eCollege Lanka will become more involved in the product development initiatives of eCollege’s Product Engineering and Technology team in Denver, Colorado.

“At eCollege, we have always been pleased with the efforts of the Sri Lanka team. We look forward to this new stage which allows us to continue to increase our software development activity in Sri Lanka,” said Vance Allen, eCollege’s Chief Technology Officer. “The Sri Lanka team played a critical role in the development of our next generation eLearning platform. Their ongoing dedication will help eCollege maintain its position as a market leader in innovative education technology.”

Nalina Wijesundara, Director and General Manager of eCollege Lanka, said, “In 2008, eCollege Lanka will recruit a number of software professionals to add to our highly skilled development team and plans are in place to double the team strength within the next six months.”

He said the aim is to become the employer of choice in Sri Lanka, for software development, by offering skilled engineers technical challenges, career development opportunities and a unique work environment.