Lanka, the hub of international education by 2020
by Uditha Kumarasinghe
The Higher Education Ministry has formulated a National Higher
Education Strategic Management Plan for Sri Lanka as a Mid Term Plan
covering years 2012 to 2015 to make Sri Lanka an international hub of
excellence in higher education by 2020.
 The aim of the Ministry is to turn Sri Lanka into a key higher
education hub similar to countries such as Singapore, Malaysia or
Australia by 2020.
This is why the Ministry invites foreign students to Sri Lanka for
their higher studies and world-class universities to set up their
branches here, Higher Education Ministry Secretary Dr. Sunil Jayantha
Nawaratne told the Sunday Observer yesterday.
The Ministry hopes to increase opportunities and access to higher
education and bring up the Gross Enrollment Ratio (GER) in the higher
education up to 20 percent by 2015 under the new Strategic Management
Plan. The Ministry also plans to convert local universities into world
class universities, he said.
Emphasis has also been laid to improve the employability and quality
of graduates. Graduates go after politicians to find jobs today. Our aim
is to produce a skilled graduate who can find employment easily. The
Ministry has decided to conduct a survey to ascertain the feasibility of
improving the quality of the stakeholders such as students, academic
staff and non-academic staff. The higher education sector will be geared
to attract investments and foreign exchange, he said.
Dr. Nawaratne said Sri Lanka has a good higher education system at
present. But still we are not exploring it. Sri Lanka’s higher education
system is enriched with competent lecturers, professors and
universities. Since most university courses are conducted in English
there is a big demand for them.
“We wish to transform Sri Lanka into the most cost effective and
quality education hub in the region. We offer quality higher education
degrees, diplomas, masters and PhDs at an affordable price. In addition,
the expenses for foreign students in Sri Lanka are much cheaper compared
to other foreign countries,” he said.
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