Dr Ranjith Ihalanayake is the Head of Postgraduate Courses and a Senior Lecturer in Economics and Finance in the Victoria University Business School. In his role as the Head of Postgraduate Courses, Ranjith is responsible for providing high-level strategic leadership in management of postgraduate courses in the college and providing guidance and mentoring in teaching and learning. In Addition to this role, Ranjith is currently the Site Coordinator for NSBM Sri Lanka. Previously, he was the Head of Discipline, Economics and Finance within the college.

He completed both his PhD (in Applied Economics) and MBus Degree at Victoria University. Upon completion of his PhD, Ranjith joined the School of Applied Economics at Victoria University. Prior to joining VU, he worked as a Senior Lecturer at the University of Sri Jayewardenepura, Sri Lanka and also in several other tertiary institutions both in Australia and Sri Lanka. In these institutions he has taught a range of subjects in the areas of economics, finance, statistics, and marketing and has gained an extensive teaching experience.  In recent years, Ranjith has specialised in teaching commercial banking and applied statistics and has taught extensively in Transnational Education programs of VU including Malaysia, China, Vietnam and Hong Kong.

Ranjith has conducted research in areas such as applied economics, banking and finance, small business management and tourism economics and has published and presented his research in scholarly journals and at international conferences. His current research interest lies in the areas of foreign direct investment and economic growth, working capital management in small businesses and bank performance management. Ranjith is also an experienced supervisor and currently supervises several PhD and DBA students within the VU Research College.

Portfolios

Areas of expertise

  • Banking sector performances
  • Public finance and financial economics
  • Tourism economics and taxation
  • CGE modelling in tourism
  • Working capital management
  • Foreign direct investment

Contact details

+61 (3) 9919 4622
[email protected]

Publications

Book chapters

Ismail, F., King, B. and Ihalanayake, R. (2011) Host and Guest Perceptions of Tourism Impacts in Island Settings: A Malaysian Perspective. In: Island Tourism Sustainable Perspectives, Eds, Carlsen, J., and Butler, R., CABI

Ihalanayake, R. (2009) Awaiting Attention: Profiling Domestic Tourism Sector in Sri Lanka. In: Domestic Tourism in Asia: Diversity and Divergence, Ed. S. Singh, London, Earthscan Publishing Ltd.

Ihalanayake, R. (1998) Tourism between Australia and Sri Lanka. In: Glimpses of Sri Lankan and Australian Relations, (with A. Gamage & P. Lomax), Eds. R. Arambawela and C. Forster, Melbourne, Committee for Sri Lankan Inc.

Journal articles

Wakyereza, R. K. S., Kuledran, N., & Ihalanayake, R., (2018)  “Is Tourism a Tool for Poverty Reduction in a Developing Country: A Study on Uganda” Journal of Sustainability Science and Management.

Seelanatha, S.L., and Ihalanayake, R. (2017) ”War and Peace Times, Interest Margin and Commercial Bank Operations: A Case of Sri Lankan Banking Sector” Defence and Peace Economics (under revision).

Saleh, A. S., Verma, R., and Ihalanayake, R. (2017) “A Validation of Wagner’s Law: A Case Study of Sri Lanka”, International Journal of Economics and Business Research, Vol 14, No 1, 29-43.

Saleh, A. S., Assaf, A.G., Ihalanayake, R., and Lung, S. (2015) “A Panel Cointegration Analysis of the Impact of Tourism on Economic Growth: Evidence from the Middle East Region”, International Journal of Tourism Research, Vol 17, No 3, 209-220.

Ihalanayake, R. (2013) “Tourism Taxes and Negative Externalities in Tourism in Australia: A CGE Approach”, Corporate Ownership and Control, Vol 10, No 4, 199-214.

Ihalanayake, R. (2012) “Economic Effects of Tourism Tax Changes in Australia: Empirical Evidence from a Computable General Equilibrium Model”, Tourism Economics, Vol 18, No 1, 181-202.

Supervision

Current

Principal supervision of 1 PhD student and 1 DBA Student

Co-supervision of 2 PhD students

Completions

Co-supervision of 1 PhD student, 1 masters (by research) student

Research grants

Industry Grant of $12,100 from the City of Port Philip to conduct the Economic Assessment of St Kilda Festival 2013 (with Thu-Huong Nguyen, Lindsay Turner and Leonie Lockstone-Binney).

A research grant of $20,000 under the International Collaborative Research Grant Scheme with Central University of Finance and economics (CUFE) 2014 to investigate “Working Capital Management Practices (MCMP) in Small Businesses: A Comparative Study between China and Australia”.

Working Capital Management Practices in Small Businesses in Victoria, Victoria University Research Development Grant Scheme (VURDGS) (2012), $28,180.

Awards

The Best Paper Award, Global Tourism Conference (GTC) 2017, Terengganu, Malaysia 2017.

National Finalist of the Lecturer of the Year Competition 2008 conducted by Uni Jobs. Nominated as One of the Top Ten Lecturers from Victoria University in the above competition.

The Best Paper Award in Economics, 9th International Business Research Conference, Melbourne 2008.