COLOMBO, SRI LANKA — 5 NOVEMBER 2026
Can a tiny island nation be transformed into a global centre for training first-class finance specialists without requiring international students to leave their home countries? Sri Lanka is coming up with an increasingly interesting answer to this question.
According to a large international professional qualification award ceremony held in Colombo, the country has become a centre of attention and demonstrated how local education combined with international business relations and digital technologies can provide new opportunities for many people from other countries.
On October 28, 2026, the Institute of Certified Management Accountants (ICMA) of Australia and New Zealand awarded professional membership to over 200 graduates as part of its Global Graduation Ceremony and Membership Investiture 2026 held at the Marino Beach Hotel in Colombo. Interestingly, among the graduating students, there were 50 representatives of 17 countries from around the world.
The importance is much more than the demonstration of certificates and professional memberships. It emphasises the enhancing potential of Sri Lanka to become an international hub for professional education, focusing mainly on areas such as management accounting, corporate finance and strategic business decision-making. This meeting also included delegates from three diplomatic missions. New Zealand’s High Commissioner David Pine was more as Chief Guest, Ismail Mamdhooh (Minister Counsellor at the Maldives High Commission) as the Special Guest of Honour and Xin Shi (First Secretary at the Australian High Commission) as the Guest of Honour, and ICMA regional directors from Indonesia, Nepal and the UAE were present as well.
Providing a delivery model that unites local experience with digital access is a crucial part of the international success of ICMA’s Graduate Management Accountant programme, which is taught entirely remotely through local partner The Academy of Finance. The Academy claims to have educated over ten thousand professionals. The history of the ICMA’s presence in Sri Lanka dates back to July 1997, while the academy started operating on July 9, 2009, becoming ICMA’s official local partner from that date. This existing relationship is a considerable advantage in making the programme popular among people from different countries.
The qualification includes crucial subjects related to business tracking in the form of management accounting, financial modelling, financial statement analysis, and financial management. The Graduate Conversion Programme provided by the qualification enables the students who meet the entry requirements to achieve further specialisation.
The ceremony has also emphasised the connection that exists between accountancy and other disciplines. ICMA symbolically exchanged MoUs with the Institute of Chartered Corporate Secretaries of Sri Lanka, the Chartered Institute for Securities & Investment and the Association of Professional Bankers. These partnerships pave the way for future collaboration in corporate governance, investment, and banking. However, the actual outcome of these collaborations will be determined by the activities that will follow in the future.
The Academic Excellence medal has rewarded students who excelled in their subject areas, while the ICMA Medals of Excellence were awarded for the long-standing services to the industry. The new Legacy Award was presented to lecturers Priyantha Herath, Sanjeewa Guruge and Chaaminda Kumarasiri, whose teaching careers at CMA exceeded ten years.
The international agenda of the ceremony was also confirmed by the words of a valedictorian and gold medal holder Saranga Perera, COO and CIO of a technological service company based in Spain. He has completed the Graduate Conversion Programme while serving his clients in Spain and Mexico, thus confirming that professional education can be adapted to one’s professional career in the international environment.
During his keynote speech, ICMA’s Global CEO, Professor Janek Ratnatunga encouraged the graduates who choose to leave the country to reconsider the idea of returning to Sri Lanka. When the task of developing global professionals is important, Professor Janek Ratnatunga stressed that keeping such professionals in the country after graduation is no less important.
The ceremony in itself does not make Sri Lanka a global education centre. However, it demonstrates that the number of international students is growing, with Sri Lanka having more than 200 new members and 50 international students from 17 countries, as well as cooperation with three professional bodies. Now the next moment of truth comes as to whether this surge will allow Sri Lanka to enter the international education market with success, to cooperate closer with other countries and to obtain economic benefits from the project.
