Ten new technical universities this year

Ishara Mudugamuwa

The Youth Affairs and Skills Development Ministry will establish 10 new universities for technical education this year, Youth Affairs and Skills Development Ministry sources said.

The government has allocated Rs 1,600 million from the 2013 budget for this purpose. The ministry was to submit a Cabinet paper in this regard shortly, the sources said. Sri Lanka has four universities which produce engineers. These universities annually produce 1,200 engineers. According to international standards, it is necessary to have four middle level engineers and 20 technicians per engineer.

Sri Lanka has only one middle level engineer per engineer, the sources said.

"Sri Lanka produces only 1,200 middle level engineers through the Katunayake Engineering Technology Institute and the Diploma Course in Technology in Moratuwa.

There is a dearth of 3,500 middle level engineers in Sri Lanka. With the establishment of the new universities, the ministry plans to fill this shortage."