Financial Times

Only 13,000 get into Lankan universities from 90,000
Of the 200,000 candidates who take up the A-Level examination, 90,000 qualify for admission to universities but only 13,000 have the facility of gaining admission, Tertiary Education and Training Minister Kabir Hashim said.

"Of all qualified students, the average intake to state universities in South Asia stands at 8%. In Thailand this figure stands at 20% and in Singapore it is 34%.
In Sri Lanka it is a mere 3%. There is a severe mismatch in the number of places available and the number of students who aspire to receive higher education," he said, showing the significant imbalance in Sri Lanka's university education. The comments were released in a press statement by the ministry.

He made these comments at the recent launch in Colombo of the the Distance Education Modernisation Project of the Ministry of Tertiary Education and Training.
It is aimed at increasing educational opportunities to enhance the human resource base for economic growth and the promotion of "social cohesion," the ministry said.
The project hopes to modernise the post-secondary education system, especially enhancing distance education and promotion of public-private partnerships to reduce pressure on university enrolment.

Hashim said the ministry has been engaged in a number of activities geared at harnessing the knowledge and skills of the country's youth on par with the rest of the world, thus reducing under-employment and unemployment. "Through the Distance Education Modernisation Project, I do believe that we will be able to significantly enhance access to and boost enrolment in the higher education system.

"The project specifically aims to enhance enrolment, quality and relevance of learning through distance education. It will also support students of the Open University of Sri Lanka (OUSL), external degree students of traditional universities and the students of post-secondary institutions and conventional universities that wish to change to a mix mode environment. "This project will also completely support the key thrusts of the e-Sri Lanka initiative and will stimulate value added services such as e-Government, small business connectivity and community development," he said.

The financial support for the project comes from the Asian Development Bank and the indirect and direct beneficiaries will include 165,000 internal and external students of traditional universities, 40,000 secondary school leavers at other public and private post-secondary institutions and 20,000 students studying at the Open University's 26 centres across the country.

In addition, 4,500 needy students will also become eligible to receive stipends annually to pursue higher education geared for employment. Successful implementation of the project will also result in doubling the facilities available in five years, which would provide high quality courses for an additional 50,000 students.

As a direct outcome of the project, it is envisaged that employment in the private sector will increase significantly while the percentage of educated unemployed will decrease, resulting in an overall growth in the GDP.

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