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| Sunday, 13 October 2002 |
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Tertiary education gets into high gear by Elmo Leonard Sri Lanka's education system would soon be borderless, Minister of Tertiary Education Kabir Hashim said. Sri Lanka would also soon introduce one of the finest tertiary education systems in the South Asian region. A skills development project, funded by the Asian Development Bank, is to be introduced. The World Bank would finance another project to improve the existing university education system, Minister Hashim said at a recent programme hosted by the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA). Sri Lanka's current education system is one of the most under-developed in the South Asian region. The Minister cited a recent Asia Week survey of 75 universities in the region. Only one university based in Sri Lanka was placed in the survey, at 73rd position. Universities in Bhutan and Nepal were positioned ahead of Sri Lankan universities. The Minister said that five per cent of the GDP of developing countries is spent on education. In contrast, Sri Lanka spent only one per cent of its GDP on the development of its human resources. Only two per cent of Sri Lankans enter universities, whereas in South Korea and Japan, 30 per cent of the population go to college, Minister Hashim said. "Sri Lanka has hundreds of unemployed graduates due to its education system being out of date, and not conforming to the ongoing world process of globalisation, which brings with it unpredictable changes. There is a need for developing the knowledge base in Sri Lanka. However, CIMA students passed out into a waiting job market," the Minister said. The Ministry of Tertiary Education would soon begin a scheme to train nurses to cater to the global demand for female nurses. Soon Sri Lanka would be exporting nurses in big numbers, and not house maids, who are relatively less paid, the Minister said. This year, CIMA had 181 students passing out as finalists, the highest it has recorded so far. This constituted 26 per cent of the students who sat for the examination, CIMA President, Sudarshan Senaratne said. In UK, 35 to 38 per cent of students pass the CIMA examination each year. CIMA Sri Lanka maintains a job bank. The number of accountants needed exceeds the supply. Students are offered employment through the job bank. CIMA students fit in as managers at many financial businesses, because the subjects covered in the syllabus include general management, human resources management, IT and marketing, the CIMA President said. The CIMA syllabus was flexible, and changed every five years to cater to world needs. CIMA began studies in Sri Lanka in 1965 and presently has around 4,000 members. The Institute has around 55,000 members worldwide with Sri Lanka accounting for 10 per cent. However, only 746 Sri Lankan CIMA members currently reside in their Motherland. Many have migrated to countries like UK, Canada, USA and New Zealand while many others have found employment in the Middle East. |
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