3 May 2023 01:10 pm
The Committee on Public Enterprises (COPE) yesterday instructed the University Grants Commission (UGC) to collect a total of Rs. 2 billion due from the lecturers who did not return from abroad from sabbatical leave.
It was revealed at the COPE meeting on Tuesday that only 84 university dons have returned the funds which they were given when they were overseas to further their studies and conduct research.
Accordingly, some 533 dons who had gone on sabbatical leave have not returned as yet.
The COPE members have therefore instructed the UGC to take appropriate action in this regard and update the committee on the progress within a month.
The COPE members opined that there is no necessity to set up a separate organization to assess the quality assurance of Universities. They consider that the UGC should be given more clout to improve the quality of universities.(Yohan Perera)