UGC facilitates WB funded AHEAD project at Sri Jayewardenepura University
View(s):A World Bank ( University Grants Commission (UGC) project, Accelerating Higher Education Expansion & Development (AHEAD) was launched by University of Sri Jayewardenepura (UoSJ) Vice Chancellor (VC) Prof Sampath Amaratunge, at its Faculty of Graduate Studies.
WB Lead Economist Dr Harsha Aturupane, AHEAD Director Prof P.S.M. Gunaratne, Prof Arosha Adikaram, Dr Kumudika Boyagoda and Dr Romola Rassool addressed the Deans and members of theacademic staff present at the meeting, explaining the proceedings of the project, the UoSJ said.
VC Prof Amaratunge said this 5-year project should be the ‘Buzz’ word of the University for the next five years.
“Apart from the 7 Faculties at the University, we have 17 Research Centres which are required to present their Research progress to the Council every year. We have developed our Research fund to Rs 400 million, since its inception” the VC said.
He said the Asian Development Bank recently granted US$ 500 million for the development of the Faculty of Engineering.
AHEAD Director Prof Guneratne said the project will work under a funding of US$ 100 million for the next 5 years, while stressing that this is not the first time the WB has visited the University. There had been 2 other programmes conducted in the University, which brought it immense positive results, the University said.
“Due to the success of these programmes, the new project has received an increase of more than 50%, from the most recent HTC programme, which was allocated US$ 40 million,” he said. Dr Harsha Aturupane in his presentation, stated that the ultimate result of this project is to uplift the Sri Lankan economy. The AHEAD project’s Results Area (RA) is threefold:
- § Results Area I: Increasing Access to Higher Education (HE) in priority areas for Economic Development
- § Results Area II: Improving the quality of HE
- § Results Area III: Promoting Research, Development and Innovation.
RA I intends to increase enrollment into Universities, with priority to Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEMS), and ultimately increase the number of PhD-qualified university academics.
RA II focuses on improving the quality of HE by strengthening the Quality Assurance and Accreditation System with modern global trends, implementing the “Sri Lanka Qualifications Framework, blend academic excellence with the promotion of Socio-emotional skills. RA II is further divided into 3 strategic focus groups:
1. Enable Degree programmes to reflect high standards of academic quality (comparable to UMIC and OECD)
2. Produce graduates with socio-emotional skills to fit into the world of work at various levels
3. Produce graduates who will participate in the labour market (specially focusing on women, as their workforce participation is low)