To:HE The President of Sri lanka

HE The President
Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka

Your Excellency,

Proposals to overcome the problem of inadequate higher education opportunities in Sri Lanka

We observed with great interest that there is some unprecedented turn of events happening in Sri Lanka for a complete revamp of the outdated educational system, which we consider as an utmost important step towards achieving the status of "Miracle of Asia".

Therefore, as a group of Sri Lankan who always think of the country before themselves would like stress some important factors especially regarding the unavailability of adequate higher education opportunities in Sri Lanka and the possible solutions to overcome the problem.

We would like to point out that there are three (03) victim groups of the prevailing failed system of higher education in Sri Lanka.

1. Students who qualify from the present Sri Lankan school system but not getting an opportunity to enroll in the universities of Sri Lanka.- every year nearly 125,000 qualifies for universities but only 22,000 get admitted.

2. Children of the "International Schools system which was established under the government patronage two decades ago - nearly 20,000 or more qualifies for tertiary education from International School system and get no opportunity in the national universities.

3. Children of the Sri Lankan Expatriate in Middle East - though their parents contribute to National economy they do not get sufficient opportunities in Sri Lanka. Nearly 2000 Sri Lankan students studying in the Middle East countries reach higher education stage every year but only one (01) or less opportunities available for them in Sri Lankan Universities.

We also note that the problem of these three groups leading to many other socio economical/ political problems in Sri Lanka:


1. These students are deprived of equal rights ensured by the Constitution of Sri Lanka.

2. This lead to a huge drain of much needed foreign exchange to other countries and hampering the development efforts as nearly 20,000 or more students leaving for higher education abroad.

3. The present system of government funding deprive the equal disbursement of government finds and most deserved layers of the society are deprived the funds for free higher education while the privileged who can even afford private higher education are funded by government.

4. The unrest/ unhappiness among these youths make fertile breeding grounds for the subversive elements in the society to mislead them for destructive actions.

In the present environment, national universities are cash trapped and no opportunities available for them to engage in research and development activities, which are an essential part of any university to rank them high in the International university ranking systems. Universities are not spending sufficiently to develop new courses, which are required to meet the global, demand in employment.

Therefore, we undersigned as citizens of Sri Lanka request your government to expedite the higher education reforms process in considering the following aspects as well.



1. The principal objective of any higher educational reform process should be to give higher education opportunity to all Sri Lankan students who meet internationally accepted entry university requirements.

2. Allow national universities to offer fee based courses for students who have minimum qualifications without affecting the on going free education courses.

3. Allow private universities/Colleges to be established under strict guidelines/ standards set out by the University Grants Commission (UGC) of Sri Lanka to grant university degrees and those standards should be applicable to all national universities as well.

4. Attract foreign students for higher education in Sri Lanka and that would be an added benefit to earn much-needed foreign exchange to the country.

5. The reforms to take place within a fixed timeframe of 6- 12 months and before that, the consensuses should be reached with at least all political parties representing the parliament.

We wish you success in this noble endeavor.

For the Sri Lankans who always think "the country first"

Sincerely,

The Undersigned