News
100,000 University admissions by 2020: UGC Chairperon
View(s):Student intake to State universities to be increased to 100,000 by 2020, said University Grants Commission (UGC) Chairperson Prof. Kshanika Hirimburegama said.
She said that university infrastructure facilities will be expanded to enable this increased intake.
“By next year, we intend admitting 2,000 students into the Technology stream, which will be increased significantly later. For this, we have already started the construction of a separate Faculty,” Prof. Hirimburegama said.
In addition to this, new Faculties will be established in each of the 15 State-run universities islandwide from next year. The Chairperson added that Colombo University’s new Technology Faculty will be set up in Hambantota. The UGC intends purchasing more land for the other universities.
As a part of this newly declared expansion, IT is to be introduced to the Arts stream, in a bid to enhance employability of the students.
“We also intend to introduce distant learning facilities to the students. Students selected by the UGC will be afforded the opportunity to follow courses online. Certificates awarded to these students will be equivalent to those given to students who follow university courses,” added Prof. Hirimburegama.
She added that, to her knowledge, this is the largest portion allocated for Higher Education in the Budget.
She further said that more university lecturers will be hired to cater to these students, for which the UGC has proposed to the Government to allocate 25% of the housing complexes near each university to these lecturers.
“They will also be granted loans to buy these houses. Priority will be given to academic staff with PHD and senior Professors. We will also increase salaries of all university academic staff and grant financial assistance to do their PHDs,” she said.
- Aanya Wipulasena