More private, foreign Unis. here to meet demand from abroad: SBD

More private and foreign universities will be invited by the Higher Education Ministry to establish their services in Sri Lanka this year, Minister S. B. Dissanayake told Education Times.

“There is a vast demand for these universities from foreign students too,” he said.

“We already have over 4,000 foreign students in the country, in state and foreign universities, and we hope to increase the number to 25,000 within two years,” he said.

Mr Dissanayake said that the target could be met as course fees in other countries are high. He said that most foreign universities have shown interest in coming to Sri Lanka, as the coun- try is more ‘attractive’ than other countries where such courses are available.

Minister Dissanayake said that courses could be offered in Sri Lanka for less than half the cost it is in another country, which will be an advantage to local students who wish to study in a foreign university, and for also those coming from abroad.

The Minister said that they could compete with countries such as Japan, Malaysia and India.

There are 51 such universities registered in Sri Lanka, with 22 already started. “We are not only developing Sri Lanka, but also the Asian Educational hub by this. We believe that this could be done by the targeted time,” he said, adding that, Japan has already shown interest in establishing affiliated universities in the country.

A university in Indigenous Medicine will be opened in March this year with 100% Japanese students who will be staying in Sri Lanka to finish their courses and return to their country. “This is a great advantage to us. We can develop our economy simultaneously,” he said.

However, during the past year, several educational groups protested against the private university system, claiming that it will destroy free education scheme in the country. They said that this will also coax students from affluent families, to get a Degree through money, and not hard work.

One university that was subjected to severe criticism was the one in Malabe, where the Sri Lanka Medical Council and the Government Medical Officers Association have refused to acknowledge it as a university of good standard. However, the minister explained that these officials cannot oppose it, as it has already been gazetted. The Medical Council will soon evaluate the university for accreditation.

“I have asked the council to go to Rajarata and Batticaloa universities, before coming to this private university and compare their standards. Here there is a qualified senior academic staff, while there, we don’t have that in universities such as Ruhuna, Rajarata or Jaffna,” he said.

‘ Webometrics Ranking’ a web based ranking that the Higher Education Ministry highlights in their website, only ranks universities by taking into account the volume of their Web contents and the visibility and impact of their web publications. This ranks Moratuwa University at 2150, while Colombo University is at 2250.

Explaining that world ranking of universities are important only when the university is competing to attract students, Prof. Hiriburegama said that rankings become important when we look to attract foreign students.

“There are certain areas that we can certainly improve, for example, research publications, research and research funding, are areas academics can address and improve the ranking,” she said.

“We need to develop infrastructure. If you go to our universities, the conditions of our cafeteria and hostels are such that, international students may be a bit reluctant to come.”

Prof. Hirimburegama said that the ministry is focused on developing the infrastructure at present.

“Therefore, we are expecting more foreign students and foreign professors,” she said.

“One major assessment criterion for world ranking is the universities’ research work. However, except for certain faculties, Sri Lanka’s universities are not up to the mark in this area either,” said Prof. Hiriburegama.

“The current teaching load is very high, for which academics are to be blamed too, though we have to take this into consideration too,” she explained.

“When we move to student- centred teaching and not lecture-based teaching, then the teacher will have more time to be involved in research. But this is already happening in the Medical and Science faculties. But we need to do more and more research in the humanities.”

According to Prof. Hirimburegama, the ministry will also introduce a perfor- mance-based evaluation system to encourage more research and engagement of the academic staff.

“Basically, we have to have performancebased evaluation annually for academic staff, which has to go with more incentives, while those who do not perform will be out. That is happening in every international university, where they give high percentages of funding for higher education, and this is happening. Those who are there without performing, let them retire. I don’t think they will move out, but they can retire, as they use the university’s name to carry out other agendas,” she said.

Prof. Hirimburegama also explained that monetary incentives should not be the only reason for academic staff to engage in research.

“Research is a must and is a part of their job. They chose to be academics, nobody forced them. So they have to engage” she said. “I believe that the recognition one gains and its personal satisfaction are big incentives for academics to engage in research.” increase pass rates for Science at the 2020 O/L exam.

“One of the best teaching and learning aids available today is e-books which are very popular in most other countries. E-books create an engaging learning environment, as the learner is able to participate actively in learning via games and interactive exercises. Producing e-book is a timely need to facilitate and improve the educational process,” he said.

The Commissioner said that, by 2015, the Dept hopes to promote the use of e-books in all schools country-wide.

The Education Dept has been granted authority to produce text books. Apart from compiling, printing and distributing of school textbooks, the Department is also given powers by the same gazette notification to produce, distribute and sell teaching aids, audio-visual materials and other equipment.- Nadia Fazlulhaq