Editorial : Lack of transparency may render private unis bane than boon

The social stigma surrounding private universities in Sri Lanka is now evidently subsiding, except a few university students and dons and left-leaning political parties grumbling about it from time to time. The education system in Sri Lanka begs for private tertiary education institutions, as almost one-fourth of the students who qualify for tertiary education could not be taken into state-run universities. The system is such that only those who get the highest marks at the GCE Advanced Level examination get the opportunity to attend state universities. Those who fulfil the minimum requirement of passing the GCE Advanced Levels to obtain a first degree either forget about higher education and join the workforce or try to obtain professional qualifications in various fields. Those parents who are well-off send their children to foreign universities in the UK, USA, Canada, Australia or neighbouring India or Singapore. According to the Minister of Investment Promotion, Lakshman Yapa Abeywardena, the cost of sending children to foreign universities stands at approximately Rs.145 billion per annum.
 

A basic degree or a first degree is a fundamental right a child should have if he or she has fulfilled the minimum qualifications to obtain one. This right has been violated by the monopolistic state university system that has prevailed in the country. Having a service-oriented economy, Sri Lanka needs more and more graduates—those who have the intellectual capacity to drive the country forward.
 

In this backdrop, the news of University of Central Lancashire setting up a US $ 120 million campus in the Mirigama Export Processing Zone is encouraging.
 

However it is disturbing to note that the authorities have not established a proper and transparent system in approving these private universities and overseeing them. For instance, the setting up of the Central Lancashire University in Mirigama was announced to the Parliament by the Investment Promotion Minister, whereas the announcement should have ideally come from Higher Education Minister S.B. Dissanayake, as rightly pointed out by a United National Party MP in Parliament.
 

If the governing side of these private universities is not taken care of, it will surely end up a bane than a boon. We urge the authorities to make the setting up of private universities transparent and systematic and not to make it like allowing people to set up casinos without a casino regulatory authority or a gaming commission.