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| Sunday, 30 May 2004 |
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| News Business Features Editorial
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Expanding University education - the non-conventional way Excerpts of Silver Jubilee Oration delivered at the Inauguration of the conference on "Chemical Education for National Development", at Hotel Trans Asia, Colombo recently by J. N. Oleap Fernando, BSc (Ceylon); PhD (Lond); DI;, Dip in Mgt (OUSL); Chartered Chemist; FRSC; FRACI; FNASSL (Dean/College of Chemical Sciences, Institute of Chemistry Ceylon, Senior Professor of Chemistry, The Open University of Sri Lanka, Director, Asian Chemical Education Network, Federation of Asian Chemical Societies, Member, Public Service Commission of Sri Lanka). It was my opinion 25 years ago and I reinforce it that the only practical mechanism of enhancing student numbers in Sri Lankan Universities is through non-conventional means within or outside the State sector. It has become quite clear over the past two decades that paucity of enhanced Government funds prevents the Government from increasing student numbers in conventional universities except with a gross decrease in quality. It was perhaps with some foresight therefore that the Universities Act of 1979 provided for the grant of UGC approval to degree awarding tertiary institutions outside the State sector. The first of such efforts was the North Colombo Medical College to provide much needed expansion to undergraduate medical education at zero direct cost to the Government. Unfortunately the lack of political will on the part of the government not only ended this first formal fee levying tertiary level institution outside the State sector but additionally imposed another burden to the fund pressed conventional system when the NCMC became another unplanned, conventional medical faculty. Both major political parties in Sri Lanka have declared their intention to permit degree awarding institutions outside the conventional State sector. Many University bills drafted by the UGC in consultation with the NEC have incorporated such provisions. It was as recently as 2002, that the Sri Lankan President addressing the Colombo University Convocation blamed the then Government for not starting private Universities. It is therefore very unfortunate that words and deeds have not matched and we are still to witness an effective movement in these directions. Opponents of the proposal have prevented both major political parties from going ahead with what is the only practical way in which an increase could be made in enhancing degree level education without sacrificing quality. Opponents argue that fee levying degree level programmes will lead to inequity due to their fee levying nature. It is however worthwhile to recognise, that a large number of Sri Lankan students who have or are able to loan huge sums of money running into several millions have been permitted to use Sri Lankan foreign exchange to study abroad. The costs these students have incurred and the foreign exchange Sri Lanka has lost as a result are phenomenal. It is relevant to note that children of persons at very high level including politicians benefit from this very exclusive opportunity which is open only to the financially elite. We also hear of Sri Lankan students studying within Sri Lanka and spending considerable money reading for degrees offered by universities and other institutions. Some of these qualifications, though relatively expensive, may be even of dubious quality. These programmes offered in Sri Lanka are however limited to a few fields. What I wish to impress is that we are exhibiting gross inequity and exclusiveness by very unequally permitting a limited number of affluent Sri Lankans to obtain degrees in Sri Lanka or abroad; there however remains many financially less affluent students who are perhaps deliberately deprived of alternative opportunities that could be made available at much lower cost within Sri Lanka if only the necessary provisions are facilitated and made available through the establishment of fee levying universities and other institutions outside the conventional State system. |
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