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German-based MiCT absolved of wrongdoing in Jaffna University programme
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The Media in Cooperation & Transition (MiCT) based in Germany, has drawn reference to a news item titled ‘Private media training institute allegedly used Jaffna Uni name for its programmes’, published in the Sunday Times of January 28, 2018.
The MiCT said the name of Jaffna University had not been misused, as they had entered into a Memorandum of Understanding with the University of Jaffna, for the period December 2015 to December 2017. They said the MiCT is not a bogus Institute, but a Berlin-based media assistance organisation that conducts training programmes.
The MiCT said it had never submitted false documents and obtained funds from foreign donors, and does not correspond to the one indicated in the article. They said the organisation was not a newly formed one, while no evidence of fraud has been reported during the project. Reporter’s Note: The issue, that the name of the Jaffna University had been used, had been raised in an Internal Audit report of the University, which has now been submitted to the University Grants Commission.
However, the name of the MiCT had been inadvertently used in the news report, instead of another organisation which had conducted the training programmes.
The Jaffna University has confirmed that the complaints by its Media Research & Training Centre, about its training programmes, is currently under investigation. We regret the inadvertent use of the MiCT name.