University admission program too rigid:

No mouse droppings in University hostel kitchens - Prof. Rajiva Wijesinha

By Manjula Fernando

In a Q&A with the Sunday Observer, State Minister of Higher Education Prof.Rajiva Wijesinha said he will not sack the UGC Chairperson Prof.Kshanika Hirimburegama but will address many mistakes done by her. He said that the University system needed reform and even the Dons should be monitored. Praising the Moratuwa VC he said that he is a classic example and other VCs should follow him

Q: Is Higher Education a portfolio that you have bargained for, given that Universities which are hotbeds of student activism and unrest it is never considered an easy subject?

A: I prefer Education because I think there are more problems in Education and with my experience it would have been more suitable.

But Higher Education is not a problem it would be satisfying if I can achieve results.

Frankly I think, this Cabinet was set up in a haphazard fashion. I think its pretty bad that the Ministry of Higher Education and Technical education (it looks like we may have it as well) does not have a Cabinet portfolio. It is crucial for the social development of the country.

Kabir Hashim has been appointed Cabinet Minister in charge of Technical Education in addition to his other responsibilities.

We have a bit of a problem with regard to the research institutions but the problems Kabir Hashim, Eran Wickremaratne and I have are totally the opposite of what everyone else will have.

Whereas every one wants to hold onto everything to themselves, all three of us want the other person to take them over.

The technology and research ministry of the previous government had an excellent secretary and she says Minister Champika Ranawaka was efficient. They briefed us and since all three of us were responsible for this, the former Ministry Secretary wanted all of us to come but the other two I think gave it a miss, probably thinking that I should handle it.

You could see that they had done a great job. There were a few problems, but the Research and Technology sector is well- organised. I don't think we have to interfere too much.

Q: What about the Technical Education sector?

A: The technical education sector is a complete mess. I found this when I went to the Sri Lanka Institute of Advanced Technical Education ( SLIATE) in Labuduwa last Monday. It had traditionally been under the Higher Education Ministry.

I try to visit an institute under my purview, outside Colombo, regularly. On Monday I went to Ruhuna University and Labuduwa SLIATE. If you look at my report on the visit which is on the Ministry website, the situation is tragic. Some students whom I spoke to wanted to give up studies there and join University Colleges.

When I went there, the Director, Registrar and the Accountant was missing. None of them had taken leave to be out. I cannot have a situation where the institute is left unattended. One lecturer was there and the staff told me he was in charge.

He was the head of English and was very competent. I was proud of his competence, because he was a student of mine. He handled it very well. The students were very civilized. They put their problems in an easy to understand terms, what they came out was shocking.

The previous Minister I thought was competent but he had left it to the officials and they have built empires.

Ten different institutions were duplicating the work. A girl who had been with SLIATE for two years said she wanted to give it up and join university colleges, because then she could get a degree.

The students who are in tertiary education should all have access to degree level qualification because they are there for no fault of theirs'.

I will set things in motion soon, to try and do that in the next 100 days. Sometimes the way I work upsets so many people. I will definitely do that if I last in this position. I am still waiting to get a clear idea as to what subjects and responsibilities I have been entrusted and I hope it will be done soon.

I feel when the Cabinet was appointed, there has been no concept of competence. I don't think that is acceptable in what is meant to be a reform Cabinet. It is worrying for the future. This confirms our party policy. We said reduce the size of the Cabinet remove the Executive from Parliament but do not abolish it completely.

Since there seems to be a need for a common principle we agreed and we had no objection to it. Nevertheless we fought hard to make sure the people were not told to vote for Maithripala Sirisena for someone else to take power. Attanayake was talking about an executive Prime Minister, but I think Ranil Wickremesinghe has much more understanding about the reality.

But I think we would now say we don't want the executive presidency abolished. Its massive powers must be reduced. The whole point is greater accountability and much more strengthening of Parliament.

Q: How many people in the government walk with you on this idea on executive presidency, I know the JHU has been championing the same views?

A: The Liberal Party has a history of constitutional theorizing for 25 years. In 1997, we said many things that people are now proposing.

Of course, many others who have no principles may find it difficult to acknowledge that we said it first.

For instance the standing orders, No one in the previous government cared a damn about the standing orders, I proposed amendments. No one cared except the then Chief Government Whip Dinesh Gunawardena who was helpful in getting my motion on standing orders to reach the speaker. Now they talk about amending standing orders in Parliament.

Q: What would be your priorities in the Higher Education sector and what are your expectations ?

A: I have to restore the concept of accountability. I think I have done that already. For instance the present Higher Education Act has no purpose. The Act as it stands begins with a description of the UGC, it does not say what it should aim at. It describes the functions later. Then you have a chapter saying the powers of the Minister. It should be the responsibility of the Minister.

A committee was set up yesterday, headed by me as the Minister. The UGC and three Vice Chancellors are selected to be in the committee. I did a draft over the last two weeks and sent it over for comments. The committee has four formerly appointed members in addition to legal experts as advisors.

At the end of February we are planning to present a draft Act. Before that I hope the functions of the state minister will be gazetted. Because then I would know whether to make it a higher education Act or a University Act. The country needs a Higher Education Act. We cannot treat our technical students as second class.

Then, we have appointed a sub committee, chaired by head of the Post Graduate Institute of Medicine with the heads of the Postgraduate Institute of Archeology and the Postgraduate Institute of English as other members to lay down guidelines for greater flexibility within the university system. The Postgraduate Institute of English was chosen because the undergraduates have told me that English knowledge is their biggest problem.

The admissions program is so rigid, it serves only to stop people from doing things, we torment the students with these rigid regulations.

We also want to suggest reforms within the school system to enable students capable of learning, now they can only buy tutorials. The change must start there. The universities will be asked to do an audit on lecturers who dictate notes. We cannot waste students' time in universities.

We want to ask the universities to develop a book policy, to set up bookshops where you have access to books by all academic publishers at reasonable rates as well as to develop simple text books in Sinhala and Tamil. Now we don't have that.

I was impressed by the inputs by some of the Vice Chancellors, who responded to my call. We have excellent people, for instance the Moratuwa university Vice Chancellor, I think we must make use of their skills. We could twin their knowledge and skills in some other under performing university. A system could be adopted for Moratuwa to mentor them.

Q: Would you be able to accomplish all that within 100 days?

A. If I'm allowed to, certainly. Everything I have done, I've done quickly. This was the problem with former President Mahinda Rajapaksa. He would say 'Meka Honda Adahasak, passe karamu'.

I am so fond of the Secretary of my predecessor. He had a lot of good ideas, imaginative and able, but there was no structure on which he could work, he couldn't develop a structure.

Therefore he turned to personal predilections. I have told politicians that I cannot recommend people for jobs in universities. That could be interpreted as 'interference or pressure'. They have to understand.

The reason why we were so upset about the last Government was, the President used to interfere with the Minister, the Minister with the UGC Chairman and the Chairman with the VCs.

It's the people who push them to do it. You have to tell the people, Ministers have no right to give jobs. In appointing councils, I don't suggest names. I asked the UGC Chairperson when she wanted me to name some people, why don't you consult this person (a well respected individual in academia), he had a vast knowledge in that particular field.

I will stick to this policy in the future.

Q: So do you think you are on the right path to bring that change?

A. I think I am always on the right path. It's that I don't last long on the right path.

At Ruhuna university they told me they wanted hostels in the university premises. I asked why? They said if they leave the premises, they get beaten up.

That is what we have to stop. There is no need to build new hostels. I agree with them. You cannot have a situation where undergraduates get assaulted. That is outrageous. But equally they must learn to be sensible.

The dons need to feel confident but I also want them to work. The universities must have work norms - how many hours of teaching, what is the research productivity. You cannot have a situation where some dons teach one hour for the entire term. This is ly happening in certain universities.

Then they ask for more money. The Arts faculties were particularly bad. The Science faculties were better and more professional.

Q: Do you expect any resistance when the change that you perceive is brought about?

A: No I don't expect any resistance at all. But if people who think they should be in charge of me will say go a bit slowly, that's when I give up and go. I will not go slowly, because that is letting myself down.

Q: Why did you decide to do away with the leadership training component for university entrants? It seem to be a political move, how would you compensate ?

A: I consulted the undergraduates before the decision was made. It was a three week program and there was a disproportionate amount of drill, whereas the undergrads wanted better English. They did want personality development which was included in the Leadership Training. I think what we want is a program that will equip undergrads to face not only university life but later life as well.

It will not be done away with. There will be an induction course. The leadership training course was the program of the ministry of Higher Education and the Defence Ministry.

I was told it was entirely a program handled by the Higher Eduction Ministry and they were only using the military premises. I don't see any harm in getting the support of the military. They have a lot of skills we could use. But it's wrong to hide the truth.

We should also begin a joint program to make English compulsory in schools for the GCE AL and university with the provision for intense coaching if they fail the first time. A meeting was held in this regard on January 27 and we are in the process of taking important decisions.

Our school English syllabuses are a mess. It is unfortunate that the subjects, Education and Higher Education are not under a single Minister.

Q: You are not satisfied with the current English program for undergraduates?

A: Not at all, they have told me this. We have a situation where they learn English for 12 years and still they can't speak in English properly, they are not confident.

People like you and me have a lot of advantages but we must make sure that others too have similar advantages.

We have set up a committee to advise us on a 100 day program. I have written to the Education Minister Akila Viraj and provincial Ministries to implement a joint plan of action on English as part of the 100 day program.

I have suggested the three months between GCE OL and GCE AL to be utilised to give students an intense three month English course. It is a crime to let an entire six months go to waste. The students are spending a lot on adhoc tuition classes which is unbearable on their parents.

Q: What are the key features of the 100-day program of your Ministry?

A. One is the complete overhaul of university structures. I have already instructed setting up committees. The universities have a free hand as to their composition. The guidelines have been issued in the letter sent to the VCs.

We are in the process of bringing in a new Act, It will be a new Act either on Higher Education or Universities, will depend on the responsibilities entrusted with the Ministry.

The second committee is to suggest ideas for flexibility within the university system to give more opportunities to youngsters and to make suggestions about improvement in education in schools to create students better able to move into tertiary education.

The next is the transparency in financial transactions within the university. The VCs have been asked to post their expenditures in the university websites. A mechanism will be put in place where students can make comments on these expenditures.

Every Government has corrupt people and there has been a lot of corruption in the past. I hope such a system will help put a stop to this.