Private sector continues to provide higher education for youth: Central Bank

Three new private higher education institutes and 18 new degree courses recognised by the Government last year

The private sector continued to engage in the provision of tertiary education alongside the Government last year, the 2020 Central Bank annual report revealed recently.

“By the end of 2020, there were 21 NonState Higher Education Institutes (NSHEIs) recognised as degree awarding institutes, offering 164 accredited degree programmes. During the year (2020), three new NSHEIs were recognised as degree awarding institutes and 18 new degree programmes offered by NSHEIs were recognised,” the report said.

The report said the Education Ministry, with the view of formulating a legal framework to establish the ‘Quality Assurance and Accreditation Commission’, drafted a bill that was gazetted after obtaining the approval of the Cabinet last year.

“The gazette is currently undergoing stakeholder consultation. With due consideration to the issue of employability of graduates, approval was granted by the Cabinet to consider STEM+A subjects, i.e., Science, Technology, Engineering and

Mathematics through Art,” the Central Bank report said.

Meanwhile, the report said the Education Ministry’s ‘ 13 Years of Mandatory Education programme’ was expanded last year to cover 421 schools and a financial incentive of Rs. 500 per day was granted to institutionalised students, based on their attendance.

“Under this programme, 1,142 students completed National Vocat i o n a l Qualification (NVQ) Level 4 training and another 5,650 students are to begin NVQ training. Throughout the year, physical and teaching infrastructure was upgraded to ensure the success of this programme,” the report said.

The annual report also said by the end of 2020, there were 1,239 registered institutions in the Tertiary and Vocational Education Training ( TVET) sector, conducting over 3,400 accredited courses.

In an attempt to improve the relevancy of vocational qualification programmes, the TVET sector developed new national competency standards for over forty NVQ programmes, while revising said standards for over twenty five NVQ programmes.

“TVEC also continued to liaise closely with industry representatives and developed a database of industry representatives. Currently, initiatives are underway to match the local NVQ framework with other similar foreign qualification frameworks to improve the employability of the qualified workforce abroad,” the report said.