Malaysia’s Deputy PM calls for greater Malaysian investment in Sri Lanka’s Education sector

Visiting Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia Dato’ Seri Dr. Ahmad Zahid Hamidi called for more vibrant Malaysian investment in Sri Lanka’s Education sector, to underscore existing academic and investment ties between the two countries.

As part of his official visit to Sri Lanka this week, Dr Hamidi visited the state-of-the-art city campus of Asia Pacific Institute of Information Technology (APIIT) in Colombo, on Friday.

He was received by Chairman of ILMU Education Group (ILMU) Dato’ Abdul Rahman Ahmad, CEO of Asia Pacific University of Technology & Innovation (APU) Datuk Dr. Parmjit Singh, Chairman of APIIT Sri Lanka, Osman Kassim and CEO of APIIT Sri Lanka, Dr. Athula PitigalaArachchi.

“I understand that, just like Malaysia, Sri Lanka has a sizable and vibrant private Education market, given the huge demand by its population for quality, affordable Education. I also understand that ILMU is keen to invest more within the Education space in Sri Lanka, and I hope my counterparts in the Sri Lanka Government would be open to this, and facilitate such investment and expansion,” Dr Hamidi said.

In his welcome address, ILMU Education Group Chairman Dato’ Abdul Rahman Ahmad highlighted the advantage of international partnership in the Education industry, and expressed hopes of Malaysian universities playing a major role for affordable Educational opportunities in Sri Lanka.

Noting the similarities and linkages between Sri Lanka and Malaysia, Chairman Ahmad said the intensely competitive private Education in Sri Lanka provides significant avenue for growth, given the huge demand from Sri Lankans for high quality, but affordable Education across all segments of the Education market.

“ILMU is keen to expand the operations of APIIT Lanka whenever suitable opportunities arise to make additional investment in other segments within Sri Lanka’s Education space,” he said.

APIIT conducts Staffordshire University, UK Degree programmes (both Graduate and Masters) in Business Management, Computing/IT and Law, with an annual intake of more than 1,300 students.

Over the past 15 years, APIIT Sri Lanka has trained over 2,200 graduates in Business Management, Computing/IT and Law. APIIT Sri Lanka’s contribution to Higher Education goes beyond training of highly resourceful and enterprising graduates.

In 2014, Ekuiti Nasional Berhad (EKUINAS), a Malaysian government-linked private equity firm invested in APIIT Sri Lanka through ILMU Education Group. ILMU Education Group is now the largest private Education provider in South -East Asia, offering endto-end learning to more than 35,000 students at 21 campuses serving from pre-school through secondary to tertiary levels.