Individual higher education institutions should be given more freedom: President
View(s):In the future, while the University Grants Commission (UGC) must still play a key role in ensuring the quality and standard of education at universities remain high, individual institutions should be granted greater autonomy in their operations, said President Gotabaya Rajapaksa.
Addressing the General Sir John Kotelawala Defence University (KDU) graduation ceremony recently, he said enhancing the capacity of our higher education system through investment, infrastructure, technology and human resources is a key aim of the Government.
“By increasing the capacity of universities there will be more opportunities for more students to access higher education. They should be able to do so without having their future determined purely by their Z-score,” the President said.
The President also said the private sector should be given more opportunities to work with state universities and other higher education institutions to find solutions to current problems.
He said the governing body, the vice chancellor, faculties and staff of each university should have more freedom to determine, design, manage, and deliver their programmes of study.
“They should also be able to select the students they feel are best suited to learn at their institutions. Talented students, too, should have more freedom to choose their universities. These changes will increase the competition that exists amongst the universities at every level, leading to significant overall improvements across the entire higher education system,” President Rajapaksa said.
He said any lack of exposure they had when it comes to the subjects selected after they enter university, was due to a failure in the education system , and not due to their own weaknesses.
“We cannot afford to lag behind. Our higher education system must adapt swiftly. It has to offer our students an education that will remain relevant despite fast changing circumstances and help them find gainful employment in future,” President Rajapaksa said.
He also said enhancing the focus on research and development would also have a beneficial impact on the rankings of Sri Lankan universities internationally and this would also attract more foreign students and retain talented faculty members at local universities.
“Globally, thousands of young entrepreneurs used the skills they acquired through online resources to launch innovative startups or become successfully self-employed,” the President said.
“This is happening in Sri Lanka too and it is a trend that needs to be supported and encouraged. In this context resource constraints in our overall education system are a cause for concern. I have seen at first hand that particularly at the rural level there is a dearth of teachers in subjects such as Information Technology, science, maths and English,” he said.
In conclusion, President Rajapaksa said training teachers and improving the quality of teachers in these essential subjects throughout the country was a top priority.
“While this is underway we must also seek new resources and find innovative means to teach these subjects at a higher standard at secondary schools island wide,” he added.
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