Undergraduate courses to begin by March 27

Dharma Sri Abeyratne

Undergraduate courses in all universities will commence in March in line with the international academic calendar, Higher Education Minister SB Dissanayake said.

All undergraduate courses will commence by March 27.

The Higher Education Ministry has advised vice chancellors to take necessary measures to commence all undergraduate courses in every faculty by March 27.

Meanwhile, more students will be enrolled to universities under a proposal submitted by the UGC to the Supreme Court. An additional 5,609 students will be enrolled to universities this time. In line with the supreme court directives, students would be absorbed into the universities from districts, which possess a high pass rate.

The Minister said more facilities are being rapidly added to the university system to meet the academic and other requirements catering to the additional 5,609 students. In this regard the government has allocated Rs 4,000 million by 2013 budget to upgrade infrastructure development in universities.

The UGC Chairman said 26,944 students of the 2011/2012 batch will be recruited for undergraduate studies under the general provision. Under the special provision around 1,000 students will also be recruited to universities. According to the general provision, 1,315 students will be enrolled for medical science and 115 for dental science.