Higher Education to compete globally

Minister of Higher Education has decided to make use of all the resources available to him to develop the higher education sector in Sri Lanka to compete effectively and successfully with other middle income countries in the global knowledge based economy.

Minister was accompanied by senior officials of the Ministry and education experts during his visits to India and Germany and was advised by the relevant authorities to make use of the available resources quickly so as to generate high quality education techniques to meet the requirements of the market oriented global economy.

World Bank Country Director Naoko Ishii, Dr. Michal Rutkoski, Director-Human Development Unit, South Asia Region has had series of discussions with the Minister and Ministry officials to overview and review the structural changes that are taking place within the higher education sector by utilizing funds available through the Improving Relevance and Quality of Under-Graduate Education Project (IRQUE).

Under this scheme approved by the World Bank, Sri Lanka is presently enjoying an interest free US $ 40 million credit facility that is repayable within a period of over 40 years.

There are no pre-laid conditions for this grant but it can used solely for the purpose of improving the quality of under graduate education.

Through surveys and researches conducted by various Government institutions, it has been found that the quality of public universities varies widely with the better institutions consisting of the older, well-established universities located in and around big cities such as Colombo and Kandy.

The newly established universities, as well as universities in areas affected by the conflict, face considerable challenges to the delivery of high quality degree programs.

Private degree awarding institutions, as well as other tertiary education institutions, experience wide variations in quality, depending on factors such as location, age of the institution and global linkages.

Taking all this into consideration Professor Warnapala, has instructed his officials that when channeling these funds preference should be given to the university institutions which have been handicapped by problems of this nature.

The Minister will keep a close eye on all these projects, connected schemes and implementation to ascertain whether the projected targets are really achieved.

If not, necessary steps will be taken to address them immediately.