Study India Program – Academic Visit to Lovely Professional University
The Department of Entrepreneurship organized a study tour to the Lovely Professional University, Punjab, India from the 22nd till the 28th of November 2018. This ‘Study India’ program was organized partly as an academic requirement of the students as a maintenance of the MoU between the University of Sri Jayewardenepura and the Lovely Professional University, India. As such, the team that visited LPU consisted of the final year batch and Senior lecturer; Mr. Rukmal Weerasinghe and lecturer; Ms. Bimali Ranasinghe of the Department of Entrepreneurship.
The visit was funded partly by the India Sri Lanka Foundation which itself was established in 1998 through a Memorandum of Understanding between the governments of Sri Lanka and India and the various funds raised by the CEFEN Students’ Wing of the Department of Entrepreneurship, University of Sri Jayewardenepura.
The program consisted of a series of lectures by Mr. Manish Saini and Mr. Vikram Motwani. These lectures, which were conducted by the professors of the ‘Startup School’ of the Lovely Professional University, were designed to sharpen the analytical and problem solving skills of the students. The students also got to experience the Indian Culture in a variety of ways including the visit to Rangali Panjab, the Bhangra dancing session, and the visit to the market and Lovely Sweets, one of the biggest sweets shops in India.
One of the most interesting aspects of the tour was the industrial visit on the 27th of November to Chandigarh. This visit enabled the students to get insights on an IT Service startup called XLPAT (T & T Consultants), as well as the manufacturing giant Mahindra and Mahindra. However, the highlight of the visit and the entire tour was when the experience sharing session by an Angel Investor Mr. Vineet Khurana. This was both a unique and informative experience since the concept of an Angel Investor is not widespread in Sri Lanka.
Much appreciation must be awarded towards the International Relations Divisions of the Lovely Professional University; Mr. Aman Mittal Ms. Supriya Mathew, Mr. Manu Aggarwal, Ms. Kusum and the team, who made every effort to make the team feel welcome and comfortable throughout the entire visit which ended on a successful note on the 28th of November 2018 with a Certificate Award Program for the students and the lecturers involved.
