Establishment of foreign Universities:

Govt ready with legal steps

Irangika RANGE, Sandasen MARASINGHE and Disna MUDALIGE

Higher Education Minister S.B. Dissanayake told Parliament yesterday that legal drafts and standards will be prepared to establish foreign Universities in Sri Lanka.

He said there are around 73 private educational institutes offering degree courses in the country.

These institutes have no direct link to the Higher Education Ministry, he said adding that they prepare students for the degrees offered by the foreign Universities. Answering a question raised by UNP MP Ravi Karunanayake, Minister Dissanayake said these institutes have their registrations with the Board of Investment as private companies.

He said there are Universities including the Open University of Sri Lanka under the University Grants Commission purview while there are two other Universities under the Higher Education Ministry purview.

Asked by Karunanayake about the cost per student in each course of study, the Minister said it was Rs 555,653 for Dental Science, Rs 463,476 for veterinary science, Rs 286,592 for medicine, Rs 263,321 for agriculture, Rs 180,845 for science, Rs 173,704 for engineering, Rs 123,813 for architecture, Rs 111,893 for education, Rs 109,135 for Business studies and Rs 57,767 for law per student of the Buddhashravaka Bhiksu University and Rs 241,517 per student of Buddhist and Pali University of Sri Lanka.

The Minister said there are eight institutes which have been recognized under Section 25 A of the University Act to amend some selected degree programs.

The Minister said ranking systems of Universities differ from one to another. During the past among Sri Lankan Universities only the Colombo University obtained an Asian ranking above 80. According to the Asia Week Asian Universities, the University of Colombo was placed 75th in 1999 and placed 77th in 2000. According to web metrics regional and global ranking of South Asian Region in January following local Universities have obtained rankings: University of Moratuwa (15), University of Colombo (17), University of Peradeniya (25), University of Sri Jayewardenepura (76), Open University of Sri Lanka (79) and University of Kelaniya (88).