RMIT University organizes ‘Future of Work Talks’ in Sri Lanka
RMIT is ranked in the top 1 percent of universities globally, with an international reputation for excellence in technology, design and enterprise. As a progressive university that always has the best in mind for its students, RMIT University organised a series of symposium ‘Future of Work’ talks in Colombo, during the first week of November.
It is evident that new technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Information Technology (IT) are creating a clear disruption in the world of work. In its endeavour to reinforce how the university prepares its students for work and life of the future, three accomplished speakers took to the stage at BMICH on the 6th of November.
The speakers were Mr. Chaminda Ranasinghe, the Chief Marketing Officer at RMIT; Professor John Thangarajah, Artificial Intelligence Associate Dean, Head of Computer Science and Software Engineering at RMIT; and Mr. Dharshan Shankavaram, the Executive Vice President of CapGemini.
A Sri Lankan who schooled at Royal College before migrating for his higher education, Chaminda Ranasinghe is an accomplished leader with 20 years of expertise in transforming organizations across the globe.
According to him, the purpose of organising the ‘ Future of Work’ talks is to encourage discussion and drive thought leadership in areas that RMIT University focuses on. As the Marketing Lead, his job is to encourage academics to take those thought leadership pieces into the market and encourage students to think about these disruptions and the future of their careers. Driving conversation was the core purpose of the program.
He also spoke about RMIT’s Work Integrated Learning Model, which is a core part of what the university promises. Students have to do an industry placement in an organization as part of their curriculum. So they apply what they learn, as they learn it, in a real organization. While nothing guarantees you a job, this experience better places a student in a job once they get it. So once you’re done with your course, you’re equipped to start work immediately.
Pro f e s s o r of Art i f i c i a l Intelligence, John Thangarajah calls out that “AI will create more job opportunities but we need to be skilled in order to be ready for them. Now is the time to understand and prepare for these opportunities .”
Speaking to us, he said that the objective of the event was to provoke thought. People in the current workflow should start thinking about what their jobs will look like in 5 years, and reskill themselves accordingly. Most importantly, the younger generation as they complete their primary education has to think about embedding the skills that the future will require.