SRI LANKA: Push to expand technical education

The development of education in Sri Lanka has led to the rapid expansion of secondary schools and more and more young people seeking tertiary education, according to Higher Education Minister, Professor Wiswa Warnapapa, reports the Daily News. Growth of higher education has not kept up with demand, and this year universities could only provide places for 20,204 students out of nearly 100,000 qualified to enter higher education. Lack of access is a fundamental problem for higher education, along with quality issues - the reasons why Sri Lanka is now pushing for a major expansion of its neglected technical education sector.

Warnapapa delivered a speech on technical and higher education at the signing of a contract on 9 June between the between the Sri Lanka Institute of Advanced Technological Education, Austria and the Netherlands, aimed at enhancing technical education in Sri Lanka. The two European countries will provide funding to assist in the modernisation and development of technical education through a package of policies.

The text of Warnapapa's long speech is on the Daily News site. It provides interesting insights into the past and future of tertiary education in Sri Lanka, questions whether the country can continue to afford providing free tertiary education and looks at the need for a system of quality assurance, among other things.
Full report on the Daily News site