Great achievement for Aquinas College of Higher Studies

An Interview with Rev. Dr. Susith Mark L. Silva, The Vice Chancellor / Rector of ACHS

It’s a great achievement for Aquinas College of Higher Studies to have already completed the 8th convocation. Could you tell us about ACHS and its special function and achievement from its inception?

Rev: The name ‘Aquinas College of Higher Studies’ itself speaks for itself. Our Institution has the Patron Saint St. Aquinas, who was the doctor of the Church; held two Professorships at the University of Paris and he held the Chair of the same University of 30,000 students at that time. He is the Patron Saint of all Catholic Universities and so ours. The term ‘ College of Higher Studies’ indicates, that it is an Institution which imparts knowledge to the youth after G. C. E. A/ L and prepare them to constitute a future Healthy Nation.

IHow did this concept of College of Higher Studies come about? Who was responsible for it?

Rev: In 1954 this educational Institution was established by an internationally reputed eminent scholar and educationist Very Rev. Dr. Peterpillai OMI . Out of UGCE acknowledged eligible students only a few percentage of students were absorbed by the few State Universities at that time. The rest of the eligible students were left high and dry, without knowing which way to move to prepare themselves for future. It is here Fr. Peterpillai cross the roads as an educationist and answered the needs of the students. At that time ACHS was catering for those students who were doing London A/ L, London Degree exams as well as the external degree students from the local State Universities.

IWhat was the Vision and Mission as envisaged by the founding Visionaries?

Rev: The encompassing Vision outlined by the Founder was: “To transcend the traditional taboos of caste, creed and race and provide an intellectuals and Social environment to prepare disciplined socially conscious and morally committed intellectuals and Professionals to be catalysts of a better world”.

As to the Mission: It is “to provide the necessary man power skills and enlightened leadership, so as to bring about a better world in which people can live in harmony and peace with a sense of fulfillment and happiness”.

ICan you say that the authorities of the yester years followed the same policies of the Founder?

Rev: Definitely. You know, continuity is the bedrock of stability. ACHS has never sidetracked from its purpose of education of Youth. The reason for it, this Institution is directly governed by the Archbishop of Metropolitan Diocese of Colombo. It is he who appoints the Vice- Chancellor / Rector of this educa t iona l Institution. The p resent Vi c e - Chancellor / Rector is the eighth in the line from 1954 holding that position. The same ministry is carried out, with additional innovative units to answer the needs of the time.

How does ACHS differ from any other private Educational Institution? What are the special Characteristics?

Rev: First of all, in loyalty to its Christian Mission Aquinas stands for:

The commitment to be a light that leads men towards the true source of all knowledge and life.

The inculcation of Respect, Loyalty and Fidelity to one’s own Religion and Nation;

In today’s money oriented Society, ACHS stands for a Non Profit making organization, and render service, of quality Education and be a catalysts of a better world.

IHow would you like to build the future on the success of the past?

Rev: As you know ours is an institute that gallops with the time. As T. S. Eliot said we not only consider the “pastness of the past but of its presence” , from the time we obtained the Degree awarding status from the Ministry of Higher Education and from UGCE in 2005, we dropped out the London A/ L, London Degree as well as local external Degree programmes and we moved into preparing students for our own Degree programmes. We began with four different Degree programmes and last year BSc Honours Degree in Agro Industry and Management was added and next year another two would be included.

IWhat do you consider to be the main challenges faced by Aquinas at present?

Rev: Our main challenge is to read the sign of the time ahead, and introduce new fields accordingly and prepare students academically to be ready to capture the ever changing market demands. Our perspective is always future oriented. and we are ahead of the time for eg. Thinking of the oncoming Fort City we have already begun with Languages like. Chinese, Korean, Japanese, French, Logistics, IT, and Supply Chain as the main subjects to be offered for the Bachelor’s Degree so that when Fort City begins to function, instead of foreign nationals our students will be ready to grasp the decent jobs.

IDuring your stewardship to date, what innovative changes have you effected for the wellbeing of the Institution?

Rev: We simultaneously spent our great energy and resources on the Farm with modernized infrastructure as well as other needed equipment required for the practical of the BSc Honors Degree in Agro Industry Management which was awarded by UGCE in 2017.

We aim and work towards achieving the global University standard. We’ve already established Student Management system. All arrangements are in progress to host the international symposium in January 2019. A Research Center has been installed to go ahead with Researches. Department of Examination was installed and under this umbrella comes all activities relating from the preparation of all question papers from various faculties until Certificates are awarded to the students. In order to suit the needs of the time, instead of some of the traditional subjects new innovative subjects have been brought into the syllabus of the Degree as well as in various Diploma courses. We have also spent much on recruiting well qualified professionals to be in our lecture panel.

IWhat are the areas that students can choose to qualify themselves to support their future ?

Rev: Name it. We have it. Teacher Training, five Degrees, Nursing, Engineering, Marketing, Finance Management, Human Resource, Hospitality and culinary Art, Religious Studies, Information Technology, various Languages, English, and we have about 30 different Diploma Courses. We help the students both in skill and intellectual development so that the students at the end of their successful studies would be able to get decent jobs.

ICan you give us some extracurricular activities that you make available for the students in your Institute?

Rev: All sports activities under Division 3, Debate and Shakespeare Drama Competitions, Net ball and Marshal art.

IRev: All 100% of the students find their jobs within the period of 3 months. We get very big demand from both Corporate Sector and Government sector.

IWhat percentage of graduating students finds jobs in their career field within 3 to 6 months? What are your target groups you wish to address?

Rev: Our target groups are always students after G.C.E.A/L It is these youth who need help and guidance. Only 19% of the university entrance eligible students are absorbed by the State University currently. The other 89% of eligible students are left high and dry. Our interest is to help these students with holistic education.