Govt to construct hostel for foreign students

Shirajiv Sirimane and M. F. Jabir

Ministry of Higher Education will construct a special hostel to international standards to house foreign students studying in Sri Lanka Dr Sunil Jayantha Navaratne, Secretary to the Ministry of Higher Education at a press conference hosted to announce the official opening of the Victoria Higher Education (Private) Limited campus in Colombo said that they are now on the look for a property to construct the hostel close to Colombo, probably in Battaramulla or Pelawatta.

Dr Sunil Navaratne, at the event. Picture by Samantha Weerasiri

A traditional dance troupe in action at the launching ceremony of the Victoria Higher Education Campus

Presently over 20 foreign educational institutes were operating in Sri Lanka which has attracted many foreign students form the region.

“These students stay in various locations and our aim is to get all of them under one roof.” He said that as per the Mahinda Chintana Vision to convert Sri Lanka into the Educational hub in South East Asia, measures were already underway to attract more foreign educational institutions into Sri Lanka. “We will even offer these foreign institutions land on a 99 year lease and provide other attractive tax holidays,” he disclosed.

“Our aim is to increase the 3,000 strong foreign student base in Sri Lanka to 10,000 by 2015 and here again we would offer them incentives which include free online visas,” he said.

Navaratne added that Rs 100 million each would be allocated to elevate six state universities to world class status with more incentives to non state universities. He cited SLITT and NIBM as typical examples for non state universities and said many incentives were on the cards to open many more non state universities.

Meanwhile the Victoria Higher Education (Private) Limited (VHEL) held its official opening launch in Colombo. Sponsored by the Board of Investment (BOI), Victoria Higher Education Campus (VHEC), a Higher Education Institution, will deliver full internal degree programmes from the University of Greenwich in London, UK.

The University of Greenwich sets high standards for teaching quality. It has been ranked first in London for teaching excellence and student satisfaction. VHEC is privileged to deliver these degree programmes, in collaboration with the University of Greenwich, to both local and international student thus helping Sri Lanka to achieve an ambition to become the education hub of the region.

VHEC owned by EDNET, a Dubai based company in the Edulink Group, will provide the long term financial stability and backing needed to deliver best practice in education in Sri Lanka.

The vision of the Victoria Higher Education Campus is to provide high quality British higher education at foundation, undergraduate and postgraduate levels, across a range of subjects. VHEC aims to deliver an excellent experience to students, enabling them to move into stable employment and contribute to the local economy.

Located centrally in Colombo 3 in refurbished building, VHEC will attract the finest academics in the Asian region, making it a meeting point for the greatest of minds in one place.

Additional undergraduate and postgraduate degrees in Media and Communications, Advertising and Marketing Communications, Creative Digital Media and Finance and Investment will be introduced in 2014.

Dr. Terry Butland, OBE Managing Director, VHEL said for students who follow these courses can save 75 % of their cost that otherwise a student had to incur if he travelled to London for the same purpose.

Among the many dignitaries and VIPs who attended the launch were Bandula Gunawardena, Minister of Education, Tim Yeo MP, UK Parliament and John Rankin, British High Commissioner.