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Legal action against nearly 500 dons who broke the bonds
View(s):Legal action is to be filed against nearly 500 university lecturers who went overseas for higher education and have not returned to their universities, in keeping with the bonds they have signed, Higher Education Minister Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe warned yesterday. He told the Sunday Times that those who had violated their contracts had been informed of the decision, but most of them had ignored the warnings sent by the University Grants Commission (UGC).
“Our own inquiries have revealed that most of them who had gone for higher studies abroad have obtained employment in the same university overseas or found other jobs, thereby violating the contracts with the UGC,” he said. The minister said that as a result, some of the local universities were forced to recruit visiting lecturers at a higher salary while vacancies existed in several universities, affecting their academic programmes.
UGC estimates show that more than Rs 800 million has been spent for travel, course fees and other expenses for 486 academics who have not returned to their posts. They have gone to countries such as the United States, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Norway, Sweden and the Netherlands.
Mr Rajapakshe said the ministry would disclose the names of the academics who had signed the bond but had failed to return. He said that in future, the ministry would have to tighten the bond conditions.