Secondary school leavers:

Tertiary education opportunities

At a time when Sri Lanka has recorded a high success rate at the GCE O-Level, it will be prudent to guide those who seek further education opportunities

Tertiary education is post secondary school education including higher education of which a major component is University education along with professional education, tertiary education, vocational training, skills development etc.

While 195,112 students out of 310,641 who have sat for GCE O-Level have secured entry to the GCE A-Level, the admissions to conventional University system which is usually the highest preference has the possibility of only about 22,000 places. This would mean that there are nearly 173,100 assuming they all obtain the minimum GCE A-L requirements would have to seek non- state conventional University higher education, such as Higher Diplomas, National Diplomas in the Higher Education system or other forms of tertiary education. (See diagram and table)

Professional courses

While some Member Associations of the Organization of Professional Associations (OPA) have recognized degree equivalent professional courses, there are many other opportunities available in the tertiary education system for those with or without GCE O-L or GCE A-L qualifications respectively.

These tertiary education opportunities should be pursued through TVEC registered courses of study and there are available in the fields of study as shown in the table, with most of them in many provinces in Sri Lanka.

Most of these courses of study are now being aligned to the National Vocational Qualifications Framework (NVQF) which ranges from NVQ levels one to seven, where level seven is at degree level for some selected fields at the University of Vocational Technology at Ratmalana.

Since these appears to be a lack of sufficient awareness among senior secondary school students, parents and school authorities of these TVEC registered Institutes and courses, further information should be sought for the pursuance of these courses on Tertiary and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) from the TVEC at the third Floor, Nipunatha Piyasa located at No 354/2 Elvitigala Mawatha or by contacting Tel. No 011-5849291. Furthermore, these details could be obtained from the website www.tvec.gov.lk and linking to the TVET Guide 2011.

While some of these courses of study would be competency based, they could be pursued on a part time basis, while being in employment or training.

In addition, to the State conventional University system, the Open University of Sri Lanka (though open and distance learning), other higher education institutes, there are many other avenues and opportunities for tertiary education which should be sought by those who have left the secondary school seeking further education outside the conventional State University system and higher education.

It is very important and relevant that careful early decisions are taken rather than wasting time on repeating secondary education examinations, which can also be done if strongly desired, while being in tertiary education and vocational training.

The writer is the Chairman, Tertiary and Vocational Education Commission (TVEC)