15 foreign varsities to set up branches here

by L. S. Ananda WEDAARACHCHI

Fifteen Foreign Universities in USA, Canada, UK, India, China, Australia, Russia, New Zealand, Japan, Singapore and Malaysia have expressed their willingness to setup their branches in Sri Lanka, according to Higher Education Ministry Secretary Dr. Sunil Jayantha Navaratna. Tax concessions and land have to be provided to the investors who are interested in setting up of universities in Sri Lanka, the Secretary said.

He said that the setting up of such universities will help upgrade the quality of local education to reach international standards.

It will not only help attract more foreign students to Sri Lanka, but also serve as a source of generating more foreign exchange to the country, he said.

The Secretary said that the government encourages investors to setup their universities in all provinces.

The government has launched a project to equip the State run universities to be on par with top foreign universities, the Secretary said.