No political interference in university system- S. B. Dissanayake

By Uditha KUMARASINGHE

Higher Education Minister S.B.Dissanayake says the Government is going to request each private education institution offering she degrees to grant at least 10 percent scholarships to local students and each international university to be set up here should give 20 percent scholarships to local students. The Minister in an exclusive interview with the Sunday Observer said the Government through this move intends to increase the present 20,000 university admissions to 40,000 within the next three or four years. The aspiration of President Mahinda Rajapaksa is to turn. Sri Lanka into an education hub in Asia.

Q: How do you intend to provide solutions to problems in the higher education sector?

A: Up to 1994, only 10,000 students were enroled to universities. A decision was taken by PA Government which came to power in 1994 to increase the admission of students to universities. Steps were also taken to set up a university in each province. The Institute of Aesthetic Studies was also converted into a university while initiatives were taken to establish a university in the Eastern province as well.

The Government was able to increase the intake of university students up to 20,000. But the present capacity of universities is not sufficient to cater to the needs of these 20,000 university students. According to my personal view, these 20,000 students are studying with facilities which are sufficient only for 10,000 students. Nearly six students are in one hostel room in some universities like the Peradeniya while eight are in a room at Jayawardenapura. Sometimes these figures are higher than official figures which I mentioned. The hall facilities in some universities are insufficient. There are no adequate lab and library facilities in some universities to conduct medicine and engineering courses.

But President Mahinda Rajapaksa has allocated a huge amount of money as capital expenditure to develop the country’s university network. Sometimes the exact amount of capital expenditure could not be reserved due to the conflict situation. According to the five point development strategy of the President, the higher education sector has been identified as a priority area.

The President wishes to make Sri Lanka an education hub in Asia. This is very timely and a practical target. We have necessary resources in our country to successfully reach this target. The country is very peaceful as there is no terrorism. Today the children of the new middle class in China want to go out of their country to pursue their education. But they don’t have enough wealth to go to US, UK or Australia. Whatever facilities are available in their country, the Indian students are also willing to go to other countries for higher education. Students in some Muslim countries like Malaysia, Indonesia and the Maldives are unable to go to Europe to conduct their education due to various problems.

The Government has decided to set up several international universities in Sri Lanka. If we set them up the students of Asian countries will come to Sri Lanka. I think if we can implement this program with the assistance of the people and the political parties, the education sector can be turned into our key source of income within the next ten years.

A large number of our students also go to foreign countries to conduct their higher education. A total of 2,40,000 students had sit for the G.C.E. Advanced Level Examination last year. Of them 1,30,000 had passed the examination while 20,000 qualified to enter universities. When we take these 20,000 students into universities, the difference of the next 20,000 students and these selected 20,000 students may be point one or two Z-score marks. The difference of the next 20,000 students may be point three of four Z-score marks. A student who has 10 marks less than a student who gained entrance to the Medical College may be completely deprived of the opportunity of enter to a university.

The establishment of international universities in Sri Lanka would facilitate a large number of local students to enter these universities through scholarship programs. In addition, this would also help to prevent the country’s revenue going to foreign countries and turn the higher education sector into the key source of income of our country.

There are 61 private sector institutions in Sri Lanka which offer degrees. Most of these institutions in collaboration with various foreign universities offer reputed degrees to students. There are some institutions which function in a fraudulent manner. Therefore we should build a close relationship with these institutions.

We are going to request these institutions to allocate 10 percent scholarships to our local students. The Government will also put this percentage of scholarships into the pool to give university admission to our students.

If a new international university is going to be set up, we would request that each such university accommodate 20 percent of local students through scholarship programs. Therefore we would be able to increase the present number of 20,000 university admissions to 40,000 within the next three, four years. If our students study in an international university set up here through a scholarship given to them, nobody can oppose it. This is a great advantage for our students. The President also pledged to give the tax income gained from these international universities to develop our universities.

Q: What kind of measures are to be taken to develop the university network in the country?.

A:Foreign aid, soft loans and the allocations made by the Government will be utilised to develop the university system.

The income gained from the proposed international universities and other private sector education institutions in the higher education sector will also be used for this purpose.

Q: How can the Government intervene to assist students not qualified to enter universities to improve their higher education opportunities?.

A: Eighteen institutions known to be higher institute of technology come under my Ministry. These institutions conduct a series of new job-oriented training courses which would help the youth to easily find a job once they complete their training course. Measures have also been taken to develop the existing training courses conducted by these institutions and improve the standards. Arrangements have been made to set up similar institutions in Trincomalee, Tangalle, Ratnapura and Kandy.

Q: Can you be satisfied with the facilities given to the university students?.

A: The Government has tried its level best to improve facilities in the universities. If we can increase the allowances given to the university students under the Mahapola Scholarship Scheme, it would be more beneficial. Steps should be taken to develop hostel facilities in universities. But the students should also use these hostels in a proper manner. Some university students use these hostels by force. Sometimes there are five students in one room. This should not happen. If more students are in one room, they will not learn. The Government will take every possible measure to increase the hostel facilities.

Q: Is there any systematic methodology to guide graduates towards employment once they leave universities?

A: The universities have commenced a large number of new training courses. Those who follow these training courses can easily find jobs once they come out from the university. Some universities have commenced advanced training courses in English medium as well.

But sometimes there is a problem on the standards of these training courses. Measures have to be taken to improve the quality of these training courses. Necessary arrangements should also be made to guide the students who follow art subjects and ayurvedic subjects in universities towards employment.

Q: The Opposition complains that the higher education sector is politicised and close to collapsed. How do you view this allegation?

A: I completely deny this allegation. The higher education sector has never been politicised. All university students have entered universities solely based on their talent and the marks they had obtained at the G.C.E. Advanced Level Examination. Not a single student has been admitted to any university with political influence. Therefore, we should be grateful to universities and the University Grants Commission for maintaining this position.

There is political interference everywhere. Political interference is not a bad thing. Who are these politicians? They are the leaders and representatives elected by the people. Therefore politicians should interfere. But there are certain sections like the judiciary where the politicians should not interfere.

Our university system functions without any political interference. All the students are admitted to universities entirely based on their talents and they are selected to the training courses according to their Z-score marks.

There were some unpleasant incidents during the time of former Chief Justice. But this situation has been completely changed today. At present the judiciary is moving in the right direction under the purview of present Chief Justice and the Attorney General.

I would like to say with pride in our university history, no black mark has been cast on our university admission.

Q: Compared with the past few years, is there any increase in the percentage of students university admission?

A: There is an increase in gaining the number of students passing the G.C.E. Advanced Level and gaining university admission. It has increased upto 20,000 today. At present a large number of students go to various foreign universities particularly to Asian Universities. But most of them are not fabulously rich. If international universities are set up in Sri Lanka, an opportunity can be provided to a large number of students to study in those universities through various scholarship programs.

Q: Can you be satisfied with the development in the higher education sector under “Mahinda Chinthana” during the past few years?

A: Of course. The increase in the number of university admissions and training courses, modernising the university training courses and conduct some training courses in English medium, all these developments spearheaded by the President in the higher education sector. I firmly believe, our victory is to properly develop our human resource. The “Mahinda Chinthana Idiri Dekma” has also laid key emphasis in this regard. Properly developing the human resource would be the foundation for our all victories. My intention is to produce a perfect graduate from the universities who can see the world with an open mind.

Q: Certain people have criticised the move taken by you to set up international universities in Sri Lanka. They say this is a threat to the country’s free education system. Your comments?

A: This is not a threat to free education. Through this move we are going to further strengthen our free education. We can open our country to Asia through the establishment of these universities. I hope to give a few scholarships including two scholarships to a one Asian country like Nepal, Butan and Bangladesh in all key faculties of our universities, few scholarships will also be given to two or three African countries.

In addition more opportunities should be made in the faculties to get foreign students. In order to turn our universities into universal level, more foreign students should be enroled at our universities. Our universities are at the lower levels in the quality index of universities in the world. The President is also very keen to bring our universities to universal level.

Therefore more international universities should be set up in our country.