In Sri Lanka today around 125,000 students pass the GCE A/L exams but only 20,000 students find places in universities. This is a very pressing problem faced by the youth of this country as only a few could gain entrance to local universities and the cost of entry to foreign universities could only be afforded by a negligible amount of students. Some register for professional courses such as Accounting, Marketing, Human Resources, Law, Banking and others which may come to a maximum of another 10,000 – 15,000.

Therefore it is very essential to find a scheme in order that these bright young students are not deprived of an opportunity to pursue their higher education and obtain a recognised a university degree. This is an absolute necessity in a country where the skills are lacking and new developments cannot take place such as the IT and BPO industry which has made India a destination for world outsourcing contracts and earning valuable foreign exchange for the country.

One of the best methods available is for Sri Lanka to follow the Indian model of having Affiliated Colleges to Universities which has been very successful and has produced a large number of university graduates in India in different fields of specialization. This would immediately increase the intake to university degree courses via the College system with the entry regulated by the University Grants Commission and all syllabuses will be approved by the universities and exams will be conducted by the Universities while the education will be undertaken by the Colleges at an affordable cost to all students. In the event there are students who are in need of funding, scholarships will be provided by the state and these students would be provided with the same facilities as in the case of those who are in the Universities. This should also not pose a political problem as it is a well tried and tested system of our closest neighbour India.

In India, the affiliation system of colleges is as follows:
India has universities established under the University Grants Commission Act, which have territorial jurisdiction over a particular area. For example, at Pune, they have University of Pune which has jurisdiction over three districts, Pune, Ahmednagar and Nasik. Similarly there is University of Mumbai, having Aurangabad, Kolhapur, Amravati, Nanded and Solapur districts in the State of Maharashtra. These are all State Universities which are established by the State Government but recognized all over India and the world also. All these Universities have affiliated colleges in their jurisdiction. Pune University has more than 700 colleges affiliated to it. The syllabus and the examination are decided by the University and the examinations are also conducted by the University. The final degree is awarded by the University.

The responsibility of conducting classes regularly is on the colleges. There are two terms in a year. The first term starts in June and ends in November while the second term starts in December and ends in April. The colleges conduct graduation and post graduation classes and has teaching and other staff as per the norms of the Government. Universities conduct classes for Post Graduate Classes only and are responsible for the administrative and academic responsibilities.

To get an affiliation to a college, there are norms prescribed by the University and after fulfilling them, the affiliation is granted. Entry to the college is given by the respective colleges themselves. They have 10+2+3 system which means that up to 10th standard, a students is in the school. There is an examination taken by the respective boards of secondary education for the 10th standard. Students who pass this examination go to the first year of junior college i.e. in the 11th standard. At the 12th standard, there is examination taken by the Board of Higher secondary examination and after passing this examination, a student takes admission to the first year of the graduation in any college of his choice subject to the marks obtained in the 12th standard examination.

Admissions are given by the respective colleges only and not centralized. However this system is for the traditional, Arts, Commerce and Science courses. For engineering, there are separate engineering colleges affiliated to the concerned university and admissions to these colleges are centralized i.e given by the central admission authority of the Government. It is similar in the case for medical education. For medical and engineering separate centralised admission tests are conducted. The medical colleges are affiliated to the medical university which is separately established.

There are two types of colleges, grantable and non grantable. Grantable means they are given grants by the Government and hence the fees for these colleges are quite low. However the engineering colleges barring one or two Government colleges and medical colleges except one or two Government medical colleges, are totally on non grant basis. Therefore the fees are quite high. However there is a fee committee established by the Government to regulate the fees for these colleges.

Examinations are taken by the university and all colleges have to follow them. As colleges are affiliated to the University, all examinations are conducted by the University and students in the colleges have to appear for them. There are very few post graduate students in the university campus. All graduate students have to take admission in the colleges only. This means that students in colleges are quite high as compared to students in university as the university is not allowed to conduct under graduate classes in their premises.

Affiliation norms are there for university colleges about the land, building, teaching and non teaching staff, library, laboratory and so on. A proposed college has to give a proposal before 31st October to the university and the Government. After visits by the committee and scrutiny of documents, the permission is granted from the next June to commence sessions. Every year an application has to be made to the university for continuation of affiliation with prescribed fees. A college becomes eligible for permanent affiliation to the university after the completion of 6 years and after fulfilling certain norms.

Details of other University Colleges

• Over the last seven decades the Delhi University has grown into one of the largest universities in India. At present, there are 14 faculties, 86 academic departments and 79 colleges spread all over the city, with about 2,20,000 students
• Initially the University of Pune had a jurisdiction extending over 12 districts of Western Maharashtra. However, with the establishment of the Shivaji University, Kolhapur, in 1964, the jurisdiction of the University was restricted to 5 districts, namely Pune, Ahmednagar, Nasik, Dhule and Jalgaon. Out of these, two districts - Dhule and Jalgaon are attached to the North Maharashtra University established in August 1990.
  During 1949, there were only 18 colleges affiliated to the University, with an enrollment of over 8000 students. Thereafter, the number of colleges increased, and in 1994-95, the University had 41 post-graduate departments, 209 affiliated colleges and 118 recognized research institutions, with an enrollment of 1,70,000 students for both the under-graduate and post-graduate courses in different faculties.
• Callicut University, founded in 1968, is located in Thenjipalam, Thenjipalam, Kerala, India. The university maintains off-campus centres and many affiliated colleges in five districts: Wayanad, Kozhikode, Malappuram, Palakkad, and Thrissur. There are 300 affiliated colleges in total, consisting of colleges in Training, Arts and Sciences, Paramedical, Medical, Engineering, Oriental Title, Music, Management Studies, Fine Arts, Nursing, Dental, Pharmacy, Hotel Management, Law, Ayurveda, Physical Education, and else. Callicut University has integrated facilities in the campus complex. There are guest house, botanical garden, student union, cafeteria, book shop, cyber spot, cultural events, observatory, seminar center, library, student space, and others.

Way forward for Sri Lanka

The Universities Act should be changed to provide for University Colleges to be set up and the relevant regulations made:

• All Universities given authority to approve university colleges but the more reputed universities should play a major role in making this scheme a success.
• Private colleges encouraged to affiliate to universities and where necessary banks should treat this as a priority project of the country for purpose of funding.
• Government buildings and schools premises be made available in the afternoon session for the university colleges where required.
• A scholarship fund to be set up by the Government to fund needy students.
• The intake to the colleges be done by the University Grants Commission similar to the selection to other universities.
• First year’s target of 50 to 100 colleges with a minimum of 10,000 students and this would be increased to 50,000 over a period of three years.
• = The Degree Certificate will be issued by the Universities and the exams will also be conducted by the Universities.
  Benefits to the Country and Economy :
• More students would be able to obtain a degree qualification.
• The number of educated youth and more skilled persons will be produced in the country.
• Valuable foreign exchange going out of the country will be saved.
• Local professors, lecturers in the universities will be amply rewarded for their hard work and this will result in stopping the brain drain which is a serious problem for the country.
• Those who are in foreign universities will be encouraged to come back to Sri Lanka and start their own Colleges and this will attract overseas Sri Lankans back to their home country.
• All these colleges will be non profit organizations and funds from the private sector encouraged to be channeled by giving them tax benefits as this would immensely develop the human skills of the country.
• Will attract more foreign investors to Sri Lanka due to availability of skilled youth in sufficient numbers which is not there now.
• The burden of higher education on the government will be reduced to a great extent and taken over by the Colleges and the Government could be a facilitator and control the quality and fees of these colleges through the Universities.
• More colleges could be set up for skills that are required by the country for its economic advancement, and the development of industry. Commerce and the services sector, plantation and agriculture.
• The youth of this country will see a future in their motherland to earn a degree and this will also ease the problems of parents who have to mortgage whatever assets they have to send their children overseas for higher education.
• Employers will be happy that they will be in a position to find sufficient skilled persons for employment in their businesses.

(The writer is the President Institute of Certified Management Accountants of Sri Lanka, a Past President -Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka and Past President- Organisation of Professional Associations of Sri Lanka (OPA).