Sunday Times (Sri Lanka)

What role will SLIIT play?

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The Sri Lanka Institute of Informatio­n Technology (SLIIT) will take over both the assets and liabilitie­s of SAITM and the Neville Fernando Teaching Hospital, said Deputy Minister Dr. Harsha de Silva, explaining that while SLIIT will own SAITM, the hospital will be owned by the government’s Health Ministry.

“SLIIT may end up paying some money to Neville Fernando as the government is not in the business of expropriat­ing private enterprise­s. Part of the transactio­n in terms of the cost is really the hospital. The government will receive Rs. 3.2 as it cur-

and have no involvemen­t whatsoever….“it will be zero, zilch. They are completely out of the picture,” he said.

There will be no screening of the SAITM students, for if they meet the minimum admission requiremen­ts, whatever was existing at that time, they will be taken in, he said, adding that what degree the students will secure is outside the scope of the committee and the matter is currently in court for the three batches which have already secured the SAITM Degree. The other batches who will be part of the ‘sunset’ institute will receive a degree from whatever name is given to that institute. This degree will only be given until the rently stands from SLIIT and the government receives an asset (the hospital) at no cost,” he said, adding that SLIIT is taking on the liabilitie­s including the repayment of the loan, with the Bank of Ceylon being part of the agreement.

In turn, SLIIT will use the Neville Fernando Teaching Hospital for their clinical training needs. After the loan is paid back, SLIIT will be charged a fee for each student who uses the hospital for clinical training. If there are inadequaci­es, the government will allocate other state hospitals for the training of their students.

final SAITM student moves out of the institute. This degree will only be given until the final SAITM student moves out of the institute and then this entity will cease to exist. The ‘sunrise’ institute will be the new entity to which students will be admitted from 2019. They will get the degree from whatever name that institute takes.

According to Dr. de Silva the minimum standards for medical education and training as set out by the SLMC have not undergone any changes. The criticism has been over the admission criteria which is the job of the University Grants Commission (UGC). The SLMC has proposed that the admission criteria should be based on the results of the last student eligible to enter a state medical faculty the previous year. The current entry criteria are 3 minimum passes for universiti­es. What they have agreed is to review this in the coming three years and to set the criteria at 2Cs and 1S. This has been generally agreed upon by the SLMC. The committee has no view on this, as this matter has to be sorted out by the UGC.

When asked whether SLIIT has begun the process of seeking SLMC recognitio­n as it is hoping to recruit its first batch of medical students in 2019 to the ‘ sunrise’ institute, Dr. de Silva said no. That process would have to begin once the AG’s views have been given on the committee’s implementa­tion mechanism.

To the query how and why SLIIT was selected, without being an institutio­n that offers medical degrees or having any medical teaching experience, the Deputy Minister said that Higher Education Minister Lakshman Kiriella had asked SLIIT whether they were interested because that seemed to be the only non-state, not-for-profit university of repute as an option. SLIIT has been in operation for 20 years and thousands of students have passed out from there and the SLIIT degree is recognised.

SLIIT has been overseeing lots of courses in engineerin­g and

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