WB Director highlights challenges of higher education

Ramani Kangaraarachchi

Sri Lanka is on two great waves of opportunity. Firstly, transforming the nation from a low income country to a middle -income country and secondly from a country in conflict to a country of peace.

In this context the higher education sector can lead Sri Lanka successfully over these two waves of golden opportunity, said World Bank Country Director for Sri Lanka Naoko Ishii at the launch of the World Bank’s Sri Lanka Higher Education Sector Report ‘The Towers of Learning Performance, Peril and Promise’ at the Galle Face Hotel on Friday.

She said that it is critically important that Sri Lanka develops its intellectual capital to reach middle-income status and to do so higher education institutions need to meet many challenges and produce world-class graduates. Also create a favourable climate for a peaceful, multi-ethnic, multi-religious and multi-cultural Sri Lanka.

Making a presentation on the report Senior Economist, South Asia Region, Harsha Aturupane said that economic relevance and the quality of the higher education sector at present is below the level required of a middle-income country.

Sri Lanka spends a substantially smaller portion of its national income on education compared to other middle income countries. Public investment on university teaching and research, and the alternative higher education institutes, is low, he said.

The team leader of the report and Lead Education Specialist Benoit Millot said that Sri Lanka’s requirement now is to look at development at multiple levels, including the level of individual programs and courses within institutions.