The lecture, the second in the series on 7th January 2016 (with
a fully detailed book distributed by the foundation), by Dr Harsha Aturupane,
on a subject he is an expert on “Enriching and Accelerating Higher Education
Development in Sri Lanka” was anything but a discourse on preferred methods of how
this very important need in our Society
is to be carried out. It was in fact a discourse of different types of Higher
Education models that can be adopted, going through the whole gamut of
international Tertiary Institutions, and payment and funding systems.
A significant omission in his work, was
to analyze the effect on high fee structure in British Universities on both the
intake quality, improvements in services of the students, availability and
indebtedness of Student Loans taken to finance education, and the possible
benefits to the Economy (or cost) of a better prepared Graduate entering the
labor force, more focused in specific careers, immediately entering the labor
market in order to divest themselves off debt, instead of as in the past, globe-trotting
around the world, prior to employment!
The reason I emphasize the importance of
such an analysis that is based on data in the past 5 years, is that this is
definitely an alternative Sri Lanka will have to pursue, as a privileged
education for a selected few who happen by chance to enter the University
system, merely by a mark achieved at A levels, is NOT achieving the desired
result for adding productivity to the Country’s rapid development needs.
No fee education IS NOT the best in a
country, that does not value something free as compared with something that has
a cost attached to it, as is painfully clear, where even at Secondary level,
parents are opting to pay significant money to private tutories to ensure that
their children are successful at the state exams, as they have NO confidence in
the teaching quality of State Education.
It is NOT just the numbers who enter
Tertiary education that matter, it is to ensure that ALL those capable of
benefitting from Tertiary do so, be it in State, Public / Private or Private Education
and for the truly gifted sufficient scholarships are forthcoming in all of the
above mentioned institutions, to ensure that Merit is always given priority no
matter the students ability to pay.
Mentioning that Stanford
a wholly private institution spawned the phenomenal growth in the Silicon
Valley Technological Revolution, is a no brainer, but irrelevant. To expect a
private institution in SL to do the same is a mirage, which if the state is to
substitute, can only be done on a platform of nimbleness and swift decision
making, which is impossible when public funds are involved and no one is
willing to accept responsibility for such disbursements
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