GSM Doctoral Candidates Drive Sri Lankan Research International – Environment Minister Leads

Taking a dramatic move in higher education research, the Graduate School of Management (GSM) recently ventured internationally with the thesis work of its first batch of doctoral students in business administration. Twenty doctoral candidates of GSM flew to Malaysia to make their initial academic presentations to panels of evaluators at the Open University Malaysia (OUM). This historic event in Sri Lanka’s higher education research was spearheaded by Hon. Susil Premajayantha, Minister of Environment and Renewable Energy who is also a doctoral candidate of OUM, undertaking his thesis work on accountability of public enterprises.

The visiting group of doctoral candidates together with five senior faculty member of GSM were received at OUM by the Vice-Chancellor and two senior Vice-Presidents at a reception cum workshop on research methods in business and economics. Addressing the workshop, ViceChancellor Prof. Anuwar Ali, while expressing great satisfaction with the progress GSM has achieved on its time table of research, remarked that the will and the caliber of the Minister of Environment to study while being a busy Cabinet Minister was remarkable and exemplary.

The Hon. Minister pointed out that this initiative by GSM will provide for international collaboration in business research which would eventually contribute to better trade and investment relations between Sri Lanka and countries in East Asia. This will be a significant element, he