Awarding Body: Project Management Institute (PMI)
Colombo Chapter Year: 2025
KIU was awarded the Gold Award at the National Project Management Excellence Awards (NPME) 2025 under the Healthcare Sector category, in recognition of the successful delivery of a large-scale, high-impact healthcare skills development initiative.
About the NPME Awards
The National Project Management Excellence Awards (NPME) is organised by the PMI Colombo Sri Lanka Chapter to recognise and honour the best practitioners of project management and their achievements in Sri Lanka. The prestigious programme honours Sri Lankan project managers, teams, and organisations for their outstanding contributions to the country’s development and the project management profession, showcasing leadership and best practices. Winning the Gold Award in any sector — let alone Healthcare — represents the highest level of recognition the programme offers.
The Award-Winning Project
One of KIU’s most significant achievements is the project “Transforming Sri Lankan Youth into Global Caregivers through South Asia’s Largest Caregiving Skill Lab,” which responds directly to youth unemployment in Sri Lanka and the global shortage of skilled healthcare workers.
The award-winning project focused on establishing South Asia’s largest caregiving skill training ecosystem, integrating advanced simulation-based training, international certification pathways, and overseas employment readiness. Through this initiative, KIU established South Asia’s largest caregiving skill laboratory — a purpose-built training facility exceeding 30,000 square feet — creating a new national benchmark for professional healthcare training and international employability.
Scale, Reach, and Real-World Impact
What set this project apart was not just its size, but the tangible outcomes it delivered. The programme equips Sri Lankan youth with internationally recognised caregiving qualifications, supported by language and workplace readiness training aligned with overseas healthcare standards. Structured and ethical employment pathways have been created to Japan, Australia, the United Kingdom, Canada, New Zealand, Germany, Saudi Arabia, and Kuwait — enabling young Sri Lankans to access secure, regulated, and skilled overseas employment.
This directly addresses two of Sri Lanka’s most pressing national challenges: youth unemployment and the underutilisation of its skilled healthcare workforce in the global labour market.
Why the Gold Award
The project demonstrated excellence in structured project governance, risk management, stakeholder coordination, and measurable social impact — all aligned with global project management best practices. NPME-eligible projects must demonstrate significant and tangible outcomes for the country, be managed following PMBOK Guide processes and approaches, and deliver within approved scope, schedule, and budget constraints. KIU’s caregiving skill lab project met and exceeded each of these benchmarks, earning the top recognition in its category.
In recognition of its scale, relevance, and social impact, the project received the Gold Award in the Healthcare Sector at the National Project Management Excellence Awards (NPME) organised by the Project Management Institute (PMI) Colombo Chapter.
A Recognition That Goes Beyond a Trophy
organised by the Project Management Institute (PMI) Colombo Chapter. Adaderana Biz English
A Recognition That Goes Beyond a Trophy
This recognition by PMI highlights KIU’s capability to execute complex, multidisciplinary healthcare projects with precision, sustainability, and long-term national and international relevance. It signals that KIU operates not only as an academic institution, but as a project delivery organisation capable of meeting the highest professional standards in execution and governance.
For students, partners, and stakeholders, the PMI Gold Award is independent, credible, third-party validation that the programmes and pathways KIU has built are designed and delivered to a level that stands up to rigorous scrutiny.