Lack of Ph.D's

21 December 2010 02:50 pm

Over 2,200 university academics accounting for 60 percent of the entire staff do not have PhD qualifications, Higher Education Minister S.B. Dissanayake said.

Addressing a function at the Sri Lankan Institute of Post Graduate Studies, Mr. Dissanayake said that the problem was all the more acute at the universities in the Northern and Eastern Provinces and the ones established in recent years.

He said that there was a dearth of university academics with post-graduate qualifications in disciplines such as Management and Information Technology.

Also, he said that the academics in disciplines such as Arts, Humanities and Management had limited access for financial resources to pursue their postgraduate degrees in foreign universities.

“Therefore, it is advisable to provide PhDs to such academics at Sri Lankan universities only with a research tenure of one year for them at overseas universities. It is cost effective, and cater to a large number of academics,” he said.

The Minister said that he would implement this policy next year, and sought the support from the senior members of the university staff to make it a success. (Kelum Bandara)