"Focus on textile and fashion design"

by Mohammed NAALIR

Considerable attention will be paid towards promoting textile and fashion designing studies in Sri Lanka as it has become one of the prominent employment generating sectors global , Higher Education Minister Prof. Wiswa Warnapala said.

He said that a separate faculty for textile and fashion design will be established in the University of Moratuwa shortly.

The Ministry has also focused attention towards establishing fashion and textile Departments in Kandy, Colombo and Galle at the Sri Lanka Institute of Advanced Technical Education (SLIATEs).

Minister Warnapala noted that under the 'Mahinda Chinthana' his ministry has taken many useful steps to boost higher education during the recent past.

A massive demand prevails for textile and fashion design at the global level.

The assistance of the London College of Fashion will be obtained to develop the textile and fashion designing in Sri Lanka to meet the global demand.

The SLIATE education system will be further developed according to current technical advancement. The World Bank's "Higher Education for the 21st century" (HETC) has agreed to fund the SLIATE projects in Sri Lanka.

Plans are afoot to establish new SLIATE institutes in Vavuniya, Ratnapura and Tangalle under this project.

Under the guidance of President Mahinda Rajapaksa it is intended to promote the higher education policies and syllabuses.

The Minister stated that new job oriented technical courses have been started at the University of Moratuwa and SLIATE Institute.