International Institute of Health Sciences (IIHS) has launched a new study programme in the field of Biotechnology which is of very high demand globally. To facilitate this process and educate the interested students about the Biotechnology field and the opportunities that exist, representatives from BOX HILL TAFE institute conducted a Seminar on July 28 at IIHS, speaking on the topic of "Opportunities & the Career Prospects in the Field of Biotechnology".

Dr.Jarrod Belcher speaing at the Seminar

This seminar was conducted by Mr. James Stafford, Executive Manager, International Business Development and Dr. Jarrod Belcher, Executive Manager, International Business Development from BOX HILL Institute. They conducted a one hour seminar to a target audience which comprised of students interested in the field of Biotechnology and students of IIHS who are following courses in the Health sector.

The main areas discussed in the seminar were the sub categories in the Biotechnology field, namely Research and Development, Pharmaceuticals, Agriculture, Food Production and Processing, Veterinary Science, Biological Medicines and Devices, Human Health, Waste Management and Environment Preservation. Dr. Jarrod Belcher explained how the Biotechnology field has expanded over the years and the best example shown by him was the number of Biotechnology Companies in Australia, which started with 2 in the 1980s and now increased to nearly 400 companies. This gives a clear view of the expansion in the field as well as the growth of the job opportunities in the international market.

He further explained how the Biotechnology firms are categorized into sectors and the main sectors are Human Therapeutics comprising 43%, Agriculture Biotechnology comprising 17% and the other sectors are Food and Beverages, Suppliers and Bioinformatics. Agriculture sector includes plant and animal sciences and Agri-foods, Human health includes stem cells and drug disc platforms and also industries relating to Biomaterials, Biopolymers, and Waste Management.

Dr.Jarrod Belcher & James Stafford-Executive Managers International Business Development, Box Hill Australia with IIHS Team

Speaking about the BOX HILL Institute Mr. James Stafford, Executive Manager, International Business Development said their institute is one of the largest government TAFE providers in Australia having about 39,000 student enrolments. He stated that they have more than 1,400 international inbound students (from 50 countries) and over 5,900 students in international campuses in China, Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam, Pacific Islands, PNG, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Chile, Colombia and Kuwait. They also have extensive experience in large scale industry training projects, project delivery and management expertise and also a number of significant Australian and international partners worldwide.
BOX HILL Institute has granted IIHS the status of one of their Extended Campuses and this was a landmark achievement for IIHS. Becoming an Extended Campus speaks a lot on the quality of the education, staff and the facilities at IIHS.

Speaking about this status awarding, Mr. James Stafford explained that BOX HILL looks in to many aspects of their partners before granting this status as an Extended Campus and they select the most prestigious educational institutes as their partners. He explained that they look for high quality local institutions and support them in delivering programmes to the needs of industry and the community, contextualized teaching and learning materials to meet local and cultural requirements, with access to Australian curriculum and teaching resource materials. He also briefed about the support given to the Extended Campuses by BOX HILL in terms of Management of timely skills transfer to partner organization staff to enable self-sufficient localization of training and support operations, and "On the ground" support by BHI managers and teachers to provide advice on teaching and industry specific facility construction.

The Biotechnology programme offered by IIHS in affiliation with BOX HILL is a 2 year "Diploma in Laboratory Sciences (Specializing in Biotechnology)" where the student can study the 1st year at IIHS and the 2nd year at BOX HILL. After the Diploma they can find employment as Biotechnologists with an annual salary of nearly 50,000 Dollars in international settings. They can further go up to Associate Degree level and with another year's study obtain the BSc in Biotechnology & Innovation. By doing the 1st year in Sri Lanka the students can save up to 50% of the course fee and the living cost as opposed to doing the same in Australia. The new intake of this programme will start in the 1st week of September 2011 and registrations are now on.

Kavishani Akalanka, who has a keen interest in the Biotechnology field, visited this Seminar and she was highly impressed by the facts and figures presented by the two BOX HILL representatives and she commented; "I had an eager interest about the Biotechnology field but I was not aware about the depth of this field. Now I know the value of following a Biotechnology programme as it has a growing demand and the employment opportunities seem to be enormous. I feel this is the ideal course for me and I'm waiting to complete my 1st year at IIHS and to transfer to BOX HILL to complete my BSc Degree in Biotechnology."

Registrations for the Biotechnology Diploma are now open. For more information contact IIHS on 0114-651144, 0774-142398, 0773-114381, or 0773-114391. IIHS is located at number 704, Negombo Road, Welisara. Website- www.iihsciences.com