11th January 1998

"American Degree" at your doorstep?

We regret the misunderstanding caused by the article published titled "American Degree: Dream or Dead-End" by 'The Sunday Times' on 23rd November, 1997. The correct status of affairs is published as follows:

(a) The American University of Asia (AUA) is duly licensed and registered as a non-profit private university with campuses, Sharjah College, United Arab Emirates, and the Institute of Technological Studies, Sri Lanka.

(b) As regards 'accreditation', neither the ITS nor the AUA has ever claimed that it had accreditation. AUA is not accredited as there are no international accreditation bodies. Likewise, all Sri Lankan universities are not accredited. The American University of Asia has requested in writing from the United States Educational Foundation (USEF) to secure accreditation. However, the USEF has not been able to identify an agency for this purpose since July 31st 1996.

(c) AUA has published advertisements which appeared in the local press headlined "An American Degree at your Doorstep" and "An American Degree in Sri Lanka". AUA is an American incorporated body. The curricula of the degree courses it provides are totally American with American textbooks. The licence to confer its degrees is granted by an American Statutory Authority. Hence, such a degree can only be correctly described as an American degree.

(d) As regards recognition of an AUA degree by other Universities and employers both in Sri Lanka and abroad, this will depend on its evaluation and reputation over the years. However, ITS, the core founders of AUA, has had a distinct reputation for producing highly employable graduates over the last 14 years. AUA has already received confirmation from the state university system in Houston, Texas, USA, namely the University of Houston Clear Lake (UH-CL), that UH-CL will accept graduate school applications from ITS and Sharjah College students who have completed their bachelor degrees under the banner of the American University of Asia and who otherwise meet UH-CL's graduate admission criteria.

In his letter dated 16 August 1996 to Dr. Edirisinghe as President of AUA, the President of UH-CL, William A. Staples is quoted as saying that:

"It is a pleasure that the University of Houston - Clear Lake, in continued support of ITS and Sharjah College, now extends its commitment to the American University of Asia. All agreements in place with ITS and Sharjah College now apply to AUA. As also previously agreed to, UH-CL will recognise AUA credit and will accept graduate school applications from ITS and Sharjah College students who have completed their bachelors' degrees under the banner of the American University of Asia, and who otherwise miss inception.

(e) AUA and ITS faculty consist of 25 full-time well qualified academics. Their qualifications and experience have been carefully reviewed by officials from both the Education Licensure Commission, Washington D.C. and the University of Houston - Clear Lake.

(f) The Education Licensure Commission in Washington D.C. is the equivalent of the Ministry of Higher Education in Sri Lanka for this particular U.S. state. There is no overall ministry of higher education for each US state. Each US state undertakes the licensing of educational institutions by reviewing the credentials rigorously. The Washington D.C. Licensure Commission is authorised to review international institutions for licensing purposes similarly. From U.S. state to state, these licensing bodies carry the same weight and are accepted nation-wide.

(g) For those who are curious as to why this external authority is used by ITS, it should be understood that the Sri Lankan government does not regulate higher education institutions in this country. Therefore, ITS has decided to seek an alternative means to furnishing affordable private higher education in Sri Lanka with recognition from the Washington D.C. Licensure Commission, which acts as a consumer protector. This will be a good model for many other higher education institutions operating in this country without any regulatory controls to formalise their goals through a similar arrangement.

Our Reporter says;

By Dr. Edirisinghe's own admission the AUA, duly licensed and registered as a non profit private university with campuses, Sharjah College United Arab Emirates and the ITS in Sri Lanka.

The Sunday Times article did not raise the issue about the validity of the License, all it said was that the American University of Asia (AUA) is not recognised outside the District of Columbia within the United States, or anywhere else in the world.

The United States Education Foundation, the body responsible for educational exchanges between the governments of Sri Lanka and the United States has stated the AUA is not accredited to any agency recognised by the Council on Recognition of post-secondary Education in the US, the institution in charge of recognition of Universities.

President of the ITS says that they had not claimed that the ITS or the AUA had accreditation, but the institute in their advertisements and information provided to students gives a clear impression that their organisation is 'accredited.'

The admission that the AUA published advertisements in the local press headlined 'An American Degree at Your Doorstep' and 'An American Degree in Sri Lanka' is the point highlighted by 'The Sunday Times.' It clearly gives the impression that obtaining an American degree is possible.

He says that AUA is not accredited as there is no international accreditation bodies, but the Council on Recognition of post-secondary Education in the US is the organisation which provides accreditation in the US.

Dr. Edirisinghe says that the degree could be correctly described as an American Degree. This is on the ground the curricula of the degree courses it provides are totally American with American text books and the license to confer its degrees are granted by an American Statutory Authority.

However, a cross section of the parents and students 'The Sunday Times' spoke to claims that their expectations were not met, and found that the 'American degree' offered was not of the same prestige and stature as that awarded by other recognised institutions in the US.

Dr. Edirisinghe claims that the AUA and ITS consists 25 full time well qualified academics. Most of the students interviewed by 'The Sunday Times' said that the lecturers were not regular.

'The Sunday Times' maintains that 'The American University of Asia' is not a recognised body from where students can obtain internationally recognised degrees or degrees recognised in the whole of the United States.

Clearly, the advertisement 'An American Degree in Sri Lanka' is at best, a mis-interpretation of fact and tends to mislead the general public.

Britain to return Ruwanvalisaya relic

Britain is to hand back to Sri Lanka a 2000-year old Buddhist relic taken from an ancient place of worship in 1911, the British High Commission said.

The crystal reliquary, believed to date back to the 1st century A.D., is likely to be officially returned by High Commissioner David Tatham to its place of origin, Ruwanvalisaya in Anuradhapura, soon after the 50th anniversary of Independence.

The High Commissioner, however denied reports that Prince Charles, during his visit to Sri Lanka for the Independence anniversary, would also hand over the relic at the Ruwanvalisaya ceremony.

The minuscule reliquary, placed in a heavy brass box, has already arrived in Sri Lanka. Its custodian, ex-Army Col. Derrick Nugawela, had arranged for it to be flown home through the Sri Lankan High Commission in London.

"A small but important item of great historical and religious significance is being returned to its place of origin after a long and strangely chequered history," he said.

The reliquary, shaped like a stupa but with its spire missing, is believed by local archaeologists to have served as an architectural model when the great Dagoba was built by King Dutugemunu nearly 2000 years ago.

According to Col. Nugawela, the crystal stupa was placed in the box along with pearls and a gold image of the Buddha. It was discovered and taken by an Englishman, Ivor C. Fraser, while the Ruwanvalisiya was undergoing restoration 87 years ago.

Health warning on phosphate deal

By Imran Vittachi

The Environmental Foundation has issued fresh warnings about possible degradation and health risks that could arise in Sri Lanka should the Government go through with its $425mn rock phosphate deal with two foreign companies.

Not only might the people, flora, and fauna of Eppawala be affected but, according to EFL's top environmental scientist, so might those of Trincomalee, where IMC Agrico and Tomen are to build a phosphate processing and fertiliser production plant on at least 450 acres of beach-front.

At Eppawala, such a large-scale and rapidly executed phosphate mining operation could lead to drastic climatic changes, as well as contaminate the Anuradhapura area's water supply and lower water tables there.

"At the end of the day, it will affect the public because they won't have enough water," said Dr. Hemantha Withanage. "But it will affect more than that. If it affects the Jaya Ganga [the local canal then the Jaya Ganga will bring (contaminated) water to many other areas."

In Trinco, the probable dumping into the harbour of phospho-gypsum, a by-product of phosphate processing, and effluent from phosphoric and sulphuric acid, would pose further threats to marine plant and animal life.

"Here, they (the foreign investors) say they can use part of that (phospho-gypsum) for the local cement industry. But the rest will probably be dumped somewhere in Trincomalee.

If they release their waste into the lagoon's eco system the whole area will die because of the effluent," Dr. Withanage said.

And, according to a dispatch from Inter Press Service last week, Sri Lanka should heed the warnings of North American scientists about phosphate mining.

LSSP decide on Wednesday

The LSSP politburo will meet on Wednesday to consider President Chandrika Kumaratunga's letter requesting that one of its members be nominated to the Cabinet to fill the vacancy created by the death Bernard Soysa.

The LSSP is reported to be split on this issue with some party stalwarts saying the cabinet portfolio should not be accepted in view of differences with opinion with the government on economic issues.

ICRC office guard killed and documents stolen

An unknown person hacked to death a security officer guarding the premses of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) removing certain documents last Friday night, police said.

The assailant killed Gnanapragasam Ravindran 37, who was on duty at the office of the ICRC, around 11pm and removed some vital documents and cash from a safe. The ICRC at Station Road, Vavuniya is now being guarded by the security forces, the sources said. The motive for the killing is yet unknown.

Under the date palm

A Muslim Mosaic

By Abu Ahmed

One of the most contentious issues in the devolution debate is the unit of the devolution. Whether the Northern and Eastern Provinces should be merged is a question that has always generated a great deal of heat on both sides of the ethnic divide.

The government's devolution proposals have sought to achieve a compromise in respect of these two divergent views by adopting the device of the referendum in the Trincomalee and Batticaloa districts. The proposals also provide for a South-Eastern Unit comprising the Digamadulla district minus the Amparai electorate which has almost an entirely Sinhala population. The South-Eastern Unit as envisaged in the devolution proposals of the government will have a predominantly Muslim population and has been often described as a Muslim unit.

Ashraff denies that South Eastern unit was his idea while Fowzie has come out strongly against the unit

The Sri Lanka Muslim Congress is known to have been the originator of this proposal. The SLMC has had several discussions with the TULF and has arrived at agreement with the TULF on this point.

However, SLMC leader M.H.M. Ashraff last week denied that the South-Eastern Unit was his idea.

In an interview with the Sinhala newspaper Divaina of January 6, 1998, Mr. Ashraff said the SLMC had not proposed or requested for the South-Eastern unit as envisaged in the devolution package. Nor had he on any occasion asked for a separate Muslim Unit, said Mr. Ashraff. However this statement of Mr. Ashraff was in complete contradiction with the statement made by the SLMC leader to the SLMC conference last month.

The Tamil newspaper Thinakaran of 17.12.97 quoted Mr. Ashraff as telling the SLMC delegates as follows:

"The devolution proposals have identified units of devolution including the South-Eastern Unit. As a result of this we are going to set a Muslim majority unit. The Muslim Congress has struggled a great deal to obtain this unit of devolution."

The SLMC leader making different statements to different forums is not surprising considering the fact that the SLMC is under attack from all sides on its demand for a Muslim unit. The SLMC has a history of taking different stands at different times.

The SLMC leader was one of the strongest supporters of the late President Premadasa and on several occasions publicity pledged to support him at the next Presidential elections. However, after the death of President Premadasa and his becoming a Minister in the PA government he now denounces the UNP's 17 years of government.

Transport Minister A.H.M. Fowzie has come out strongly against the South-Eastern Unit and has condemned it as being detrimental to the Muslims. Mr. Fowzie has pointed out that the Muslims who are scattered all over the country will suffer as a result of this short sighted proposal of the SLMC. He claims that a majority of the Muslims are opposed to this proposal and that even Muslim Congress MPs representing the North and East like M.L.A.M. Hisbullah (Batticaloa), U.L.M. Mohideen (Digamadulla), S.S.M. Abu Bakr (Wanni) and Dr. I.M. Ilyas (Wanni) are against this proposal.

The All Ceylon Muslim League which is virtually the Muslim wing of the UNP too has expressed its opposition to the proposal. ACML President A.L.M. Hashim has described the proposal as an attempt by Mr. Ashraff to set up his own sultanate. Although other UNP politicians like M.H. Mohamed, A.C.S. Hameed, A.H.M. Azwer and Imthiaz Bakeer Markar have not expressed their views it is believed that all UNP Muslims would oppose the move.

In this scenario where Mr. Ashraff is being increasingly isolated only M.M. Zuhair, Rauf Hakeem and Provincial Councils Minister Alavi Moulana are supportive of the SLMC leader. All three are national list MPs who have no mass support. Minister Moulana's close association with Mr. Ashraff is causing grave concern among SLFP Muslims who believe that the veteran trade unionist is being manipulated by the SLMC leader to promote his party's political agenda.

Meanwhile, Mr. Moulana was a happy man last month on the occasion of the release of his biography entitled Tholilar Tholan "Alavi Moulana" written by veteran journalist Puyal Hameed.

Ministers including Ministers Fowzie and Ashraff were present at the ceremony held at the BMICH. A large crowd listened to the speakers paying glowing tributes to Mr. Moulana. The organisers who had picked on Minister Fowzie to be the Chief Guest had entrusted the task of introducing the book to Minister Ashraff who usually makes a good speech in Tamil on literary occasions. But he was off colour and seemed preoccupied. This was possibly due to the concerted onslaught on himself and his Ministry in Parliament that day when the votes of the Ports Ministry were discussed.

Ashraff on tender confusion

By Frederica Jansz

In yet another con- troversy the devel opment of the Galle Port has sailed into trouble waters as the government now says it will call for fresh bidders to carry out the development of the port.

M. H .M. Ashraff Minister, Ports, Shipping and Rehabilitation last week at a Cabinet press briefing asserted the government has reaffirmed its commitment and determination to go ahead with the development of the Galle Port with the objective of spearheading the overall socio-economic development of the Southern Region.

Defending his position and involvement in the entire issue, Minister Ashraff has in a press release cited various reasons for the project being stalled. He later said in an interview with The Sunday Times that there was never a Tender called for the Galle Port project. A Tender he said is different from an expression of interest. There were no bidders, he said adding that the development of the Galle Port was not for sale

The Minister's argument is that all he sought for at the time was only an "expression of interest." The ministry he said thereafter evaluated the proposals before issuing the Letter of Intent (LOI). After that he said a feasibility study would be carried out and the project implemented once it had received approval from the government.

He said out of 12 interested parties which were short-listed comprehensive proposals of interest were received only from four companies. Ham interbotten, UK China Consortium GL International and Marine Consortium.

However Ham Interbotten from the Netherlands, he said which got the highest ranking later had to be disqualified as they were not willing to develop the project according to the Request for Proposals (RFP).

Thereafter, he said the Cabinet Appointed Evaluation Committee (CAEC) by a majority decision recommended to issue a non-binding Letter of Intent (LOI) to UK China Consortium which ranked second in the evaluation.

Ham Interbotten which was originally rejected, later informed the Ministry of their willingness to join the UK China Consortium.

Mr. Ashraff says that he ensured that the selected investor did provide a surety bond for a sum of US$ 2.5 million in order to guarantee the performance of the feasibility study within the stipulated period.

Both the governments of the UK and the Netherlands also contributed substantial sums of money to meet the cost of the feasibility study.

Denying he presided over a Tender Board, Minister Ashraff maintains that what he chaired was a Cabinet Appointed Evaluation Committee. "There was never a Tender called for the development of the Galle Port," he said. The Minister seems unaware that an Evaluation Committee is part of a tender process and is appointed only after a Cabinet Appointed Tender Board officially calls for Tenders. The question here is what would an evaluation committee otherwise evaluate? If not the most responsive bidders to a tender.

The project was initially awarded to Construction and Personnel Services Ltd. (CAPS) referred to as the UK China Consortium. However since the award, Ham Holland joined them together with Interbotten Holland and Edmund Nuttal of the UK and the Letter of Intent (LOI) was given on 10.05.96.This new consortium changed its name to Euro-China Consortium after the LOI was issued.

It is interesting to note here that two feasibility reports were submitted to Minister Ashraff. One was the official report from the Euro-China Consortium, the other was an independent report from the Chinese who had initially stated they were not prepared to fund the feasibility study. They considered their contributions to be the design and feasibility work already done. However Consortium Chairman Constans Koostra explained that this was not adequate because at present the work carried out by each member would depend on their ability and suitability.

The award of the Letter of Intent to the Euro-China Consortium committed the Consortium among other things to producing a bankable feasibility study for the proposed new Container Terminal at Galle Port.

The viability of raising private investment for the project rested on the result of this study. If this could be shown to be viable, the Consortium was asked in the Letter of Intent to attempt to raise those investments and proceed to construct and operate.

The necessity for the project to be bankable had been clearly explained to the government body by the Consortium group. It had further been explained that if the project was shown not to be bankable then public support from the government would be necessary but that every assistance in arranging 'soft' loans would be provided by the Consortium.

The feasibility study, which was the official study produced by the Consortium was delivered to the Ministry of Shipping, Ports, Reconstruction and Rehabilitation on the agreed date of 15th February 1997. The Ministry was invited to comment on the study and following acceptance of the conclusions the Consortium was prepared to enter the next phase of the LOI and take the project to a financial close and beyond.

The Shipping Ministry however never got back to the Euro-China Consortium with regard to the feasibility reports already submitted. Instead President Kumaratunga suddenly announced in Galle recently that the Letter of Intent issued to the Consortium had been cancelled.

The government has promised to call for fresh tenders in February this year, and award the tender afresh within the space of two months. This seems a near impossibility as Consultants will again need to be called and a study done for fresh tenders which will take at least 4 months. To draw up tender specifications will take a further 6 months. The calling of tenders will take yet another six months. For a Cabinet Appointed Tender Board and a Technical Evaluation Committee to sit will take six more months. Such an exercise in time at least is going to cost the government a further 2 1/2 years at the very minimum.

The question that now needs asking is why the government has seen it fit to cancel the Letter of Intent to the Euro-China Consortium after two feasibility reports have been submitted. Why did not the Ministry of Mr. Ashraff reply to those two studies done? Instead it is only after President Kumaratunga made a statement in Galle recently that Minister Ashraff issues an official press release stating the Consortium did not find the project viable and so the Letter of Intent has been cancelled.

Meanwhile a letter by Mohana Saurajen Director Business Development of Johor Port Berhad Malaysia dated 8th December 1997 and addresssed to M. N. Junaid Secretary to the Ministry of Port Development Rehabilitation and Reconstruction states that it is writing the letter at the request of Mr. S.A. Kandasamy, Chairman of CAPS and considered to be Mr. Thondaman's right hand. It is Mr. Kandasamy's company CAPS that was first awarded the Letter of Intent and bears the responsibility for the 2 1/2 million pound surety bond.

The letter goes on to state that Johor Port's involvement in this project dates back to July 1997. The letter also calls for an extension of the validity of the Letter of Intent.

Minister Ashraff maintains President Kumaratunga was quoted out of context when she spoke at Galle saying the Letter of Intent was cancelled, adding that all dealings over the development of the Galle Port have been, and are above board. Mr. Ashraff adds the Letter of Intent was cancelled due to a lack of funds on the part of the Consortium. However the Euro-China Consortium has not made any such indication to Mr. Ashraff and have been awaiting a reply to the feasibility report submitted to the Ministry in February last year.

A member of the Euro-China Consortium told The Sunday Times that they have not been officially informed about the cancellation and have no knowledge of Johor Port Berhad as being an accepted member of the Consortium.

Mr. Ashraff's statement that the Letter of Intent was cancelled because the Consortium has not found it feasible is not true, according to members of the Consortium.

Continue to the News/Comment page 4 * February 4th: is it one of those mirages?

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