THE GLOBAL HIGHER EDUCATION SYSTEM AND THE KNOWLEDGE HUB IN SRI LANKA

By Prof. Gamini Samaranayake
Chairman, University Grants Commission

Sri Lanka is a unique developing country in South Asia.  The main characteristic of the demographic structure is that the child population shows a declining trend while the youth population will continue to form a sizable proportion of the population till 2020.   According to Professor Indralal de Silva an eminent demographer the decline in the child population by the year 2000 was an economic impetus and the period 2001-2016 is termed as the period with a demographic bonus so vital for economic growth.  That is one of the reasons that Sri Lanka was able to sustain economic growth in spite of the civil war for thirty years. The second factor is that the state system proved to be resilient to nearly 30 years of civil strife and has been able to establish a post conflict recovery process that is moving towards consolidating peace. Although service delivery was hampered and the social and economic gains eroded the democratic processes and the state structure remained relatively intact facilitating a faster process of post conflict recovery.

More specifically, it examines the viability, potential and the trajectory of the knowledge hub as a solution to problems and challenges in higher education in the country.  The basic argument of the presentation is that the modernization of higher education lies in implementing structural changes that are concurrent to changes that are taking place at the international level in higher education.  

" Thus, the main challenge before the university education is to increase access and quality while maintaining equity.  To overcome this situation countries has initiated reforming existing higher education in the country.  The initiative of the member countries of the European Union (EU) refered as a “ bologna process” which proposed a restructuring an under-graduate and post-graduate programme and transfer of credit system, at European level "

Changes in the Global Higher Education System
 The university has been a symbol of human integrity, a trustee for civilization, and intellectual community.  It is mainly created for the discovery of knowledge.  Therefore, some universities are in the world for only post-graduate studies.  Higher education particularly university education is a continual process of imparting knowledge developing skills, inculcating values and promoting the overall personality development of human beings.
The oldest universities in the United Kingdom (UK) such as Oxford and Cambridge were founded as Church Universities with a view to training clergymen and teachers.  However, the university in its modern sense started in the latter part of the 19th century which is classically developed by Wilhelm von Humboldt and Cardinal Newman.  They had a more secularized curricula and teaching and research were their main objectives.  The first such university was the University College of London established in 1826.  It was referred to as the first godless university in England.  The industrial revolution, expansion of universal franchise and the rise of professional societies contributed to the establishment of civic universities such as Manchester, Leeds, Liverpool, Sheffield, and Bristol in Britain.  

Colonialism was a main force in spreading university education in developing countries.  The colonial masters particularly the British established universities in their colonies.  Other countries that did not have any colonial experience such as Japan, Thailand and Ethiopia established the western model of universities.  



Higher education is not an isolated phenomenon to the vagaries of external and internal pressure.  However, there is a strong belief that universities and cemeteries are not willing to change or move but both have to change due to internal and external forces.  
The external pressure is due to globalization and internationalization and multi-nationalization of university education.  Globalization comprises broad economic, political and other trends and also involves Information Communication Technology (ICT), the use of English, the rise of the private universities, the marketisation of higher education, and related aspects that are more or less inevitable results of the rapidly diversifying and changing global environment.

Internationalization means a package of policies that government or education institutions develop to cope with the global environment such as providing academic programmes in foreign languages and sponsoring students to continue their studies abroad.  Multinationalization means offering a country’s programmes in other countries. It covers the application of another country’s education programmes, and adapts courses and syllabi in a country’s context responding to the needs and desire to be part of globalization.  Multi-nationalization functions by means of branch campuses, franchising, joint degree offering institutions called twining, online programmes, distance mode of delivery and e-learning.  As a result, well-established universities are setting up offshore or branch campuses in other countries.  Australia is proactive in the process of branch campuses and Singapore has been particularly receptive of such branch campuses.  It is referred to as the McDonalization of higher education.  

In the case of internal pressure, it is evident that enormous pressure is exerted on university education by demographic changes, the concept of the knowledge economy, development of primary and secondary education and the expansion of technology and communication.  The breaking down of barriers in transport and emigration and immigration, formation of trade alliances and trade in higher education services by the World Trade Organization’s (WTO)  General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) and the European Union (EU), and the Bologna process has revolutionized understanding and practice in higher education globally as well as locally.  

There have been significant effects of globalization and internationalization.  Of them, access to quality and relevance are noteworthy.  The demand for access and the provision of access to higher Education has been rising rapidly all over the world.  In the late 1960s there was no country in West Europe where the Gross Enrollment Rate (GER) was higher than 8 percent.  Currently, the GER is more than 35 per cent.  As a result, the model of university education has changed from elite to mass.  At present more than 2.8 million students are studying outside their home countries.  This number will increase to eight million by the year 2020.  

The second significant impact has been the quality of higher education.  The quality of higher education is measured on the basis of the following criteria: modernized classrooms, libraries, laboratories, study halls, syllabi, and methods of teaching and evaluation.  
Currently the strongest British universities such as Oxford, Cambridge, College of London, Imperial College of London, and Yale, Harward, Stanford, Berkeley, and M.I.T. in the U.S receive worldwide admiration and respect for their leadership in research and education.  They excel in the advancement of human knowledge of nature and culture, they provide the best training to the next generation of scholarship; and they provide outstanding undergraduates and professional education for those who will emerge from all walks of life.  Consequently, they are referred to as World Class universities.

" However, university education underwent many changes especially with the granting of universal franchise in 1931, free education in 1945, the political changes in 1956 and the introduction of university education in Sinhala and Tamil Languages in 1959.  It marked the beginning of the inclusion of students from a wide ranging socio-economic background.  Consequently, the number of universities increased from one in 1942 to three in 1960.  Two of these new universities Vidyodaya  and Vidyalankaraya were Buddhist pirivenas (monastic institutions) which were elevated to the status of universities. "

Simultaneously, Asian countries such as Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, China and India seek to expand the capacity of their system of university education.   The Global changes have made a significant impact to improve equity.  In order to improve equity universities have to offer scholarships and fellowships to the high achieving students from poor families or disadvantaged regions.  It is widely believed that poor but talented students get more opportunity to enroll in higher education through scholarship programmes where tuition fees are charged than in countries with free education  

Thus, the main challenge before the university education is to increase access and quality while maintaining equity.  To overcome this situation countries has initiated reforming existing higher education in the country.  The initiative of the member countries of the European Union (EU) refered as a “ bologna process” which proposed a restructuring an under-graduate and post-graduate programme and transfer of credit system, at European level.  The world Trade organization (WTO) through the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) has encouraged set of private higher educational among its member countries.  It has already contributed to the worldwide debate on whether higher education is for public good or private good.  If it is for private good the higher education should be able to go on sale as a service like any other product.  Sri Lanka too is not able to be silent regarding changes taken place at global level.   

Origin and Development
The origin and development of university education in Sri Lanka goes back to the latter part of British rule.  The establishment of the University College in 1921 marked the beginning of university education in the country.  It prepared students to sit the external degree of the University of London.  The University of Ceylon established in 1942 by the amalgamation of the University College and the Medical College in Colombo was the first native university with power to offer degrees.  The university followed the model of Oxford and Cambridge popularly known as the ox-bridge model.  From the inception up to recent times university education was dominated by state universities.  As a result, there are 14 universities with three campuses, one Open University, 09 undergraduate and 7 postgraduate institutes under the purview of the University Grants Commission.  Almost 80,000 internal students and 200,000 external students are studying at our universities that follow the pattern of British Universities.  It was exactly the model of elite education.
However, university education underwent many changes especially with the granting of universal franchise in 1931, free education in 1945, the political changes in 1956 and the introduction of university education in Sinhala and Tamil Languages in 1959.  It marked the beginning of the inclusion of students from a wide ranging socio-economic background.  Consequently, the number of universities increased from one in 1942 to three in 1960.  Two of these new universities Vidyodaya  and Vidyalankaraya were Buddhist pirivenas (monastic institutions) which were elevated to the status of universities.  To accommodate an increased demand of university education ad hoc measures such as creating another Faculty of Arts in Colombo and a Faculty of Science in Peradeniya was taken by the government.  By 1970 the number of universities increased to five and by 1978 there were seven universities in the country.  The rest were established after 1994.

The number of students entering higher education thus increased form 1612 in 1948, to 5000 in 1959,  to about 14,000 in 1970 and 17, 449 student enrolments in 1978.  By 1988/89 there were 29,781 students internally in university education.  At present, 80, 000 students are in universities.  Annually about 13,000 internal graduates pass out from universities and more than 50 percent of them are from the Arts and management streams.  The output of external graduates is around 6,500 and the Open University too has an output of about 500 per year.   Thirty years ago 70 percent of the student population was admitted to the faculties of Social Sciences and Humanities.  In addition, since 1962, there has been a system of external examinations in university education and almost 200,000 students are registered with the eleven universities in the country.  

Currently, there are 14 conventional universities, three campuses, one Open University, 9 undergraduate and 7 post-graduate institutes, 9 degree awarding institutes under the purview of the University Grants Commission.  Besides, there are two religious universities under the Ministry of Higher Education.  There is one university under the Ministry of Defense, and one under the Ministry of Vocational Training.  The 19, universities provide higher education under the principle of Free Education but the right to education defines free education as equity in access and quality which we find questionable.  The exact statistics are not available regarding the number of students in universities overseas.  According to estimates of the UGC nearly 8000-10000 students leave the country for higher education annually.

To be contd