Move to save foreign exchange, brain drain:

Concessions for private universities

More opportunities for local students:

Indunil HEWAGE

The Government will take measures to provide more tax concessions and free land for investors willing to set up private universities in the country.

Higher Education Minister S.B.Dissanayake said giving more opportunities for local and foreign investors to set up universities in the country will enhance the current education level to reach international standards.

It would also help to attract more foreign students to Sri Lanka and give them opportunities to pursue their education in Sri Lankan universities. It will also be a main source of generating more foreign income to the country.

Addressing a ceremony at South Asian Institute of Technology and Management (SAITM) yesterday he said the Government has also initiated a massive project to provide fully fledged facilities to State run universities.

They hope to obtain more funds from the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank to continue the project.

Dissanayake said 6,000 to 7,000 Sri Lankan students are in foreign countries pursuing higher education spending around Rs 12,000 million to Rs 15,000 million annually in total for this. The main objective of the Government in setting up private universities in Sri Lanka is to save a huge amount of foreign currency that goes to those countries.

This will give more opportunities to around 10,000 students who are unable to pursue higher education in state run universities.

It will also put an end to the brain drain in the country.

“Some of the universities in India and China are willing to bring their students to Sri Lanka and educate them here”.

“Subsequently, these students will go back to their country after completing their studies and it would lead to enhance a healthy competition in the education sector in the country,” Minister Dissanayake said.