Quality Tertiary Education outside the (state) University sector at very low cost
The two tertiary level programmes conducted by the College of Chemical Sciences (CCS), (which is the educational arm of the Institute of Chemistry Ceylon) over the past four decades have proved to be typical examples of the type of tertiary education that can be provided at low cost, without delay, efficiently, effectively and without the constraining effects of state bureaucracy and political interference.
The Graduateship Programme in Chemistry of the CCS today produces annually well over 40% of Sri Lanka's Special Degree level Chemists within a 4-year period at an average cost of about Rs 300,000 which surely must be the cheapest of any such programme in any part of the world. With an average cost of well over Rs. 1 million to produce a similar graduate in the Sri Lankan University system, it should be noted that the 822 Graduate Chemists produced by the CCS through 29 batches (19832011) represent a human resource development (HRD) which would have otherwise cost the national exchequer, well over one billion rupees. In addition to many Scholarships, Merit Bursaries and Need Bursaries, Best Performer prizes are offered for every course which together with numer- ous other awards, benefits and concessions provide a salutary atmosphere and a good driving force for excellence in academic performance. About 15% of the CCS student community of about 600 are concurrently following courses in state universities (including Medical faculties and Universities in the Provinces), which they usually complete much later than ours.
Income generated from fees have been very carefully managed and savings used not for individual benefits but towards enhancing the quality and standard of the programmes and strengthening the necessary infrastructure. Though the programme commenced operations in 1979 without any office, staff or a building, the Institute of Chemistry Ceylon moved into its own premises in 2005 and now has a regular full time staff of nearly 50. Library (air-conditioned) and other facilities have been enhanced. Due to the difficulty and delay in obtaining an additional piece of land nearby, CCS, after much delay, is about to embark on a 5-storey building extension on the only available limited space around Adamantane House. Students can therefore expect more facilities and better services by 2013 when the extension is due to be completed. While savings are being recycled in an extremely productive and useful manner, not a single officer/official of the Institute/college has as yet gone overseas using Institute funds. If only CCS had access to additional land at a convenient place, we could have expanded further and made an even greater contribution to Human Resources Development. CCS could then have supplemented the insufficient and much more expensive production of Graduate Chemists from conventional universities at a much lower cost in larger numbers and faster.
The College has also been able to strengthen the professional activities of the Institute as a spin off result from the unforeseen financial and academic success of its educational programmes. Training seminars, quiz competitions, debating competitions, itration competitions, exhibitions etc have been conducted with increasing regularity and professional competence. The interests of school children have remained uppermost and multi-faceted activities have been conducted to further their skills, abilities and knowledge.
However, the incomes generated from the educational activities have not been used for other Institute purposes for which alternate sources of funds have usually been tapped. The several interna- tional conferences held over the past have however been very successful and possible largely due to the solid infrastructure and human resources now available at all levels available within the Institute/college through the conduct of its educational programmes. The Institute and the College from the very inception fortunately got its fundamental priorities right so that the CCS has been careful to ensure that funds generated from educational activities were utilized essentially for furthering the educational programmes with no profit making initiatives. The CCS is therefore able to confidently go ahead with the proposed building programme without serious financial problems. Educational programmes of the Institute thus become the direct beneficiaries of these pragmatic policies.
It is a great pity that we note there is a general resistance to the provision of similar alternate facilities outside the state sector despite inadequate academic staff numbers in universities and reluctance to increase salaries of senior academics to an attractive level. Recent events have unequivocally proved that the state university system is clearly unable to expand any further except at great loss of quality and efficiency. This has been well illustrated in the unplanned expansion of state universities without planning and inadequate funds to serve largely political ends. It is obvious that the quality and equivalence of a university degree cannot be guaranteed merely through a UGC circular that presently states that similar degrees awarded by any university are equivalent o each other.
Therefore the government would do much better with greater productivity and less expenditure if it recognizes and supports much more alternate opportunities that could be made available outside the bureaucratic and highly politicized state sector. Broad-basing Tertiary Chemical Education need not necessarily be profit oriented as it is generally believed and expected to be. Opening up educational opportunities outside the state university sector in Sri Lanka, particularly through the non bureaucratic and non politicallyoriented professional bodies, can in fact have a symbiotic and synergetic effect as well. The College of Chemical Sciences of the Institute of Chemistry Ceylon has convincingly proved how this could be done in order to take Sri Lanka towards making it a knowledge hub in a very practical and efficient manner.