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Speech made by Dr. Karunasena Kodithuwakku Minister of Human Resource Development, Education and Cultural Affairs on December 22, 2003 on the occasion of celebrating the 25th Anniversary of University Grants Commission at the UGC Auditorium.

In view of the close association I have had with the University System for a very long time then and now in my present capacity I considered this opportunity, when University Grants Commission is celebrating its 25th anniversary, a rare opportunity, where I would be able to meet many of the leading professionals of the university system and share some of my thoughts, which I deem important, with regard to the future course of our universities. Obviously, several issues come to our mind when the university system of this country is thought of. In addition to positive side the negative aspects such as violence in grave proportions, lack of demand orientation, management deficiencies, unemployability of a good number of graduates produced by the university system, inadequate attention to research, falling levels of confidence of the public in the university system and perhaps more importantly falling demand from students eligible, to enter our universities. Let me comment on some of these with emphasis on the need to be demand-oriented as most other issues are in some way or the other connected with it.

Before I proceed any further, let me make one matter very clear i.e. about our policy on free education. Our government, pursuing further the policies of free education introduced in 1945, by late Dr. Kannangara, is firmly committed to continue providing free education up to the conclusion of the first degree in the case of those entering our universities. The Government's commitment to this policy is firm and unequivocal. The apprehensions of anyone to the contrary are baseless. To my knowledge no country has privatized a state university. And our administration too would never to that and would not allow any one to do that either.

We know that the trends of globalization demand much more sharpened knowledge and skills in every field. Knowledge of Swabasha only and a smattering knowledge of ICT skills would not help. At least a good working knowledge of English is of paramount importance in addition to the knowledge of a particular discipline being acquired. Such a working knowledge would in fact help acquire latest developments in any discipline without confining one to archaic substance. Let me in the form of questions clarify what I mean by demand orientation of the universities. To what extent are our universities relevant and responsive to the needs of our society? What is the kind of profile of the graduates on average that we produce from the university, say in terms of levels of knowledge, skills, confidence, professionalism etc? To all these questions, in sincerity I do not think we could give positive responses. May be that some faculties do better. But that woundn't be enough when a majority of the students are alienated and deprived.

University students at a protest campaign. If student violence continue in our universities, not only employers would look at other institutes, even students who secure eligibility to enter universities would opt for other alternative institutes and professional courses elsewhere.

Then the relevant question to pose is as to how our universities ended up being in this sorry state of affairs or in this unfortunate situation? I believe that what happened at the primary and secondary level education has a lot to do with this. The objective of the free education policies of Dr. Kannangara in the early 40s was to ensure both quantity and quality. Not only more numbers were enabled to access education and also high quality education was given in the English medium from Grade 6 through the Central Colleges system. Those who passed out with an education from that system at that time were bilingual. The system was reversed to swabhasha only in the fifties and such socially unacceptable policies were further entrenched with the nationalisation of schools in the early 60s. Along with that, non-government initiatives of Buddhist Theosophical Society, Catholic and Christian denominations and also to some extent, of Hindus and Muslims were pushed to exit. The above situation was confounded by the introduction of standardization for admission to the universities which aggravated further the animosity among the different ethnic groups.

These imprudent experimentations risking the ensuing generations were then carried to the university system as well. The Swabhashakaranaya of the universities was vigorously followed as a monumental achievement. The universities were at the same time 'converted' and reduced to some sort of departments of the government with the so-called innovation in 1972 i.e. the establishment of one university with several campuses. The academic autonomy in the universities were curtailed. In fact the total system was turned upside down. The cumulative effect of all these policies was horrendous. The gurukulas that existed and developed traditions of research and made epoch making creative contributions in many a field dried away and/or died. Most of the students, thought they were the very cream of our education system, ended up being able to read only Sinhala or Tamil and therefore easily became the victims of non-progressive doctrines and ideologies. This continues to happen even to date. Ironically though, some of these campuses also became 'Rehabilitation Camps' subsequent to the insurrections waged by the said victims. These were the dire consequences of such experimentations.

Steps were taken to reverse this sad situation with the return of the UNP to power once again in 1977. That is why the University Grants Commission was created in 1978 restoring university autonomy. As the very name suggests, the objective was to make the grants as deemed necessary, ensure autonomy and facilitate the administration. Intention was to be passive and protective not directive and interfering. Logically UGC's role should have been temporary. The universities should have been at least by now graduated to be on their own, managing with the grants being given. The impression that we obtain now is in terms of management and to an extent in the affairs of education, the same universities appear unable to manage themselves. Every year about 90,000 to 100,000 qualify to enter universities but only 1/6th is only admitted. Another few thousands, whose parents can afford the cost enter foreign universities. It should be noted that because of this migration for studies out of the country, over US$ 15 Million is being remitted annually out of our country through official sources. It can be safely assumed that unofficial remittances may be as twice high as this amount. Meanwhile the children of the parents of low income or lower middle class, approximating annually 60 to 70 thousand in number are stranded and frustrated. They become finally the unfortunate victims of extremist political movements both in the South and the North. Have we addressed this issue sincerely and seriously enough? Aren't the politicians, policy makers, civic leaders, leaders of commerce and industry, the UGC and the university system as a whole responsible and accountable for this sad state of affairs?

Nowhere in the world has the public sector alone been able to provide employment to all the graduates coming out of their university system. Our graduates should not expect the impossibility to happen. i.e the public sector to generate the same number of employment opportunities, equal to the number of university graduates passing out from our universities. They should be able to join the private sector as well both in Sri Lanka and abroad. In the future it is that sector which would create more opportunities vis a vis the public sector. In order to join the public sector, the graduates must be more competent and performance-driven, particularly the bilingual. Otherwise even economy were to grow at a faster rate within the next 10 years to become another Malaysia or Singapore, there is likely to be graduate unemployment even in 2010, if remained capable to work only in the public sector. If our graduates would not become competent to be accommodated to the employment opportunities in commerce and industry including other service sectors, the problem of unemployment would continue to escalate.