University Registrars meet

COLOMBO: The Registrars of all the Universities met under the umbrella of the University Grants Commission last week and discussed matters of mutual interest as a response to the arrangements made by the Minister of Higher Education, Professor Wiswa Warnapala, for the first time in the history of Sri Lankan Universities.

The Minister emphasised at this meeting, that the main idea of convening discussions of this nature is to emphasise the fact, that the problems faced by the university communities are similar and common to each other and in seeking solution to these common problems an united effort can be made by the Registrars themselves by making use of their own ground experiences.

Majority of the university students undergo lot of financial difficulties; the university students studying in Eastern and Northern provinces face other problems.

Therefore, it is necessary and vital for the Registrars to get together and address these problems. It is true that Vice-Chancellors are playing an important role in the academic field trying to change the whole education system to fall in line with the changing trends in the world.

However, the vital administrative functions should be handled by the Registrars after giving due consideration to the opinions of the vice-chancellors.

While addressing the problems of the students, it is necessary to encourage them for their studies. The university students should make use of the libraries and IT facilities. They should go through the Internet and see the new developments of the world.

Professor Warnapala further said that he would be taking steps to convene a meeting of the Bursars in respective universities and see what could be done to achieve these objectives. There should be a joint forum of the Registrars and Bursars, he said.