NEXT School of Business, the premier Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM UK) study centre in Sri Lanka is now open for December 2010 exam registrations. Maintaining its position of being the largest CIM Study centre in Sri Lanka, NEXT once again exceeded 500 students for the June 2010 session.
Speaking to Education Times, the General Manager, NEXT School of Business Ms Kumudu Abeyawardane said "We have once again exceeded 500 students for June 2010 examination; this is the third consecutive session that NEXT has crossed this milestone. We are very grateful to the students, parents and employers for placing trust and confidence in NEXT and helping us to be the largest CIM institute " She went on to say "in difficult times it's heartening to have record numbers for CIM; this is purely as a result of our lecture panel at NEXT. We always believe that a practical subject like marketing has to be taught by senior practising marketers in the country. Our lecture panel consisting of Dusty, Bertram, Tharanga, Jeffrey and Dharshana are all MBA qualified senior marketers in local and multinational companies holding CEO and heads of marketing positions. They are trained in UK by CIM and have many years of lecturing experience with a record of high pass rates".
NEXT has now successfully introduced the CIM New syllabus across all stages. The record enrolments are ample evidence of the confidence students and parents place on NEXT as their first choice for CIM education in Sri Lanka. Ms Abeyawardane went on to say "The new syllabus assessments are predominantly assignment based.
The practical nature of the new syllabus is complimentary to the skills of the lecture panel at NEXT. Unless and otherwise the lecturers are practising marketers it would be very difficult for them to guide the students through their assignments. She also added "these are individual assignments, and if any lecturer takes a short cut by doing the assignments for students, it is a grave injustice done to students in the long run. The purpose of individual assignments is for students to learn how to practise marketing on their own and internalise the learning and not to test the lecturer's capability of doing assignments for students!
CIM has been smart to pick these types of 'formulaic assignments' and have failed them in the last few assessments". She said, "At NEXT we believe that students should learn marketing. Therefore we allow them to do their own assignments and only guide them with one on one tutor sessions as recommended by CIM UK. We cover the full syllabus even if it is not tested in that particular assignment, knowing fully that when they join an organisation they have to practise marketing beyond the assignment they were assessed!" In each stage there is a case study based examination.
NEXT has a special case study programme to tackle this subject. NEXT was the clear market leader for the final stage case study subject with over 100 in class for the old syllabus. This trend continues with the new syllabus with well experienced expert lecturers handling the case study based examination. NEXT has developed their own series of publications for all subjects and separate assignment guidelines for assignment based subjects. This complements the 'Expert Panel' and serves as a reference for each subject.
When Education Times (ET) inquired about pass rates, Ms Abeywardane said that NEXT believes in getting all the students through rather than harping on a few prize winners. "What purpose does it serve if you have a few prizes but a majority doesn't get through? We take pride in making sure all our students get through". Also the practising 'expert panel' of lecturers are able to bring a multitude of skills to students from various spheres of marketing. NEXT has consciously expanded the lecture panel to bring this diversity rather than one or few lecturers teaching all the subjects. Ms Abeywardane said "CIM is a professional qualification; therefore students need to learn how to practise marketing rather than just getting through an assessment.' We believe that marketing students of NEXT will have better career prospects with the rounded exposure they receive at NEXT".
According to Ms Abeywardene, "the inquiries for Dec 2010 intake are flowing in; we are certain that we will have weekend classes full like last time. In this session however, due to the nature of the assessments, NEXT has made a policy decision to reduce class sizes". "The new CIM syllabus requires more interactive sessions with lots of group work and class discussions" she added. Registrations will be on a first come first served basis.
Apart from the expert lecture panel, NEXT School of Business has a state-of-the-art modern learning facility conveniently located at Havelock Road. This includes facilities for students to get tutor support for their assignments outside normal classes. NEXT is setting up a computer laboratory facility for the use of students. Ample parking and easy access through public transport are benefits students find at NEXT.
NEXT School of Business was set up by a group of professionals who are holding senior management positions in the Corporate Sector and who have in common the passion of empowering young executives with the knowledge, skills and competences required for career advancement and personal development.
For more information contact:
NEXT School of Business
327 Havelock Road
Colombo 06
Tel 5765405 /4
Fax 2554040
Email info@next.lk
www.next.lk |
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