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University admissions:
Govt to review Z-Score system
by Uditha KUMARASINGHE
 Higher Education Minister S. B. Dissanayake said he intends to
appoint a special panel of experts to reconsider the existing Z-Score
methodology of enrolling new students to universities, on a directive of
President Mahinda Rajapaksa.
The University Grants Commission (UGC) on an earlier occasion
appointed a group of professors competent in statistical science to
formulate a methodology to enrol students to universities.
They introduced a special Z Score system to enrol students who sat
for their G.C.E. Advanced Level Examination under the old and new
syllabus.
The UGC is making preliminary arrangements to enrol students to
universities under this present system, the Minister told the Sunday
Observer yesterday.
However, President Rajapaksa has stressed the importance of
reconsidering this process as various contradictory views have been
expressed on the Z-score system.
Therefore, Minister Dissanayake has decided to pay special attention
to the views expressed by various sectors of society, intellectuals,
legal experts, professors, parents and students.
Minister Dissanayake said he would also draw his attention to the
contents of the petition filed by a group of students to the Supreme
Court.
As measures are needed not to cause injustice to any student, the
President has instructed him to take such remedial steps as soon as
possible.
"It is the responsibility of everybody to select students for
university courses in a manner that does not cause any injustice to
students who have got through by facing a most competitive examination
at a very critical juncture of their lives. Therefore, the President has
laid special emphasis on appointing a special panel of experts to
reconsider the existing methodology by taking into consideration the
ideas of the intellectuals who created the system and also the views
expressed against it," the Minister said.
Sri Lankan universities admit around 20,000 students per year for
various degree courses.
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