World Bank to provide funding for Govt. plan to increase student intake at state unis.
The World Bank is to provide Rs. 20 billion to the increase of the intake of University students commencing from this year, University Grants Commission (UGC) Chairman Sampath Amaratunge told the Education Times.
The funding will support the Government’s decision to increase the intake by 10,000 students every year until 2024.
Accordingly a batch more than 42,000 students, which includes the additional 10,000 students, will be enrolled from next month onwards.
The World Bank funding will be used to recruit more lecturers and improve infrastructure and non-tangible facilities at the campuses.
Rs. five billion will be allocated from the World Bank funding this year, while next year an additional Rs. 8.1 billon will be released to the UGC. In 2023 Rs. 5.8 billion allocated, and the year after Rs. 4.6 billion will be allocated.
Prof. Amaratunge said discussions have been held with university staff and vice chancellors on accommodating more students this year, and the staff has responded positively.
Under the plan, by 2024 the universities will be admitting 72,000 students each year.
Meanwhile the breakdown of the increased number of students for the 2021/2022 academic year based on the faculties has been released.
Following is increased student intake and the total number of students to accommodate in each faculty:
Medicine – 481 (1961) , Dental – 43 (123), Engineering 565 – (2493), Vet Science – 30 (130), Science – 2937 (9677), Paramedical courses – 371 ( 1161), Agriculture – 362 (1522), Law – 126 (496), Management and Commerce – 1798 (7743), Humanities and Social Science – 1172 (9453), Information Technology – 535 (1880), Technology – 1102 (3407), Siddha/Ayurveda/Unani Medicine - 209 (719) and Aesthetic Studies 318 (1468).
Accordingly the increased number of students is 10,049 and a total of 42,233 students will be enrolled in universities this year. Last year’s intake was 32,184 students.