Higher Education Minister off to Germany

Minister of Higher Education Prof. Wiswa Warnapala left for Germany with a team of experts from the Ministry of Higher Education to have extensive talks with World Bank officials, in relation to the sweeping and far-reaching changes that are taking place in the higher educational sector.

Other members of the team are Prof. L. L. Ratnayake, Head of the IRQUE project, Kamal Padmasiri, Director General of the Sri Lanka Institute of Advanced Technological Education and Ajantha Ratnayake - IT Specialist.

The Minister is also expected to meet his counterpart in Germany and visit several universities and higher educational institutes in Berlin to acquire a first hand knowledge of the developments that are taking place in that country under the influence of the technological revolution that is taking in the European Union.

The IRQUE project is jointly funded by the Government of Sri Lanka and the World Bank to the value of US $ 40 million.

The project will support to develop a funding strategy to higher educational institutes and to establish a Labour Market Observatory to determine and explore market opportunities for graduates.

In order to improve the quality of undergraduate programmes in State universities and other higher educational institutes, the project has provided assistance to establish an Independent Quality Assurance Council under the Ministry of Higher Education.