Kalinga Divaratne, currently employed at a leading Bank in Sri Lanka and Dr. Chandana Gajanayaka the Medical Superintendent at the Base Hospital in Balapitiya, were the two recipients of the Gold Medal from the University of Colombo, Faculty of Graduate Studies at the recently concluded Executive Marketing Diploma convocation. The batch was the first to be exposed to the revolutionary method of learning, mLearning. Sharing some insights with us on their journey throughout the degree, they elaborate on the experience gained.

"After serving in the banking industry for almost 16 years and having completed my banking exams, I wanted to further my studies in marketing and was in search of a course offered by a well reputed university. Incidentally, I came across an Executive Diploma in Marketing by the University of Colombo, Faculty of Graduate Studies offered via the mLearning platform." Kalinga said.

The mLearning platform takes advantage of the learning opportunities offered by mobile technologies incorporating multiple user interactive video conferencing features, slides, virtual smart boards, material upload facilities, content management facilities, and also SMS, email and offline messaging. The system portrays a classroom setting adding a complete interactive element to the learning experience. mLearning plays a pivotal role in breaking traditional barriers of education therefore promoting the right to higher education of all Sri Lankans.

Dr. Chandana having to juggle a busy schedule had an interest to try something different to his career, thereby showing interest in pursuing the marketing degree. "I selected the mLearning course as I sought after a qualification that would enable me to balance my work and studies without compromising either. The course allows flexible time frames, and also gives one the liberty of going through the recorded version stored on a log, with the option of continuously repeating the video for any clarification.'
The Faculty of Graduate Studies of the University of Colombo (FGS-Colombo) is one of the leading postgraduate institutions in Sri Lanka.

Located in the heart of the commercial hub of the country, the university offers well-established facilities and internationally qualified academic staff; the faculty was the first to extend their programmes via mLearning. In addition to the Executive Diploma in Marketing offered by FGS, a Travel and Tourism Economics & Hotel Management Course offered by the Faculty of Arts, the Business English Diploma offered by the English Language Teaching Unit and Masters in Applied Electronics offered by the Faculty of Science are all currently being offered via mLearning.

"The course offered via mLearning has assisted me to learn through convenience, state of the art methods and achieve similar results to that of traditional learning. It permits you to travel around the country and still connect to the lecture via internet. Education 'anywhere at anytime.' is the premise of the course" Kalinga said. Further he stated "Being labelled as a third world country, we should step out of the ordinary and transit from traditional to contemporary methods of education that will shape the future of our country and shift society towards a paradigm of change. Distant learning will take us one step ahead to the future, to experience revolutionary and groundbreaking methods of learning, appropriate for all those who are constrained to learn through accessibility, time and money" .