University crisis gets worse, shortage of lecturers - Ruwan

May 10, 2013, 10:15 pm


By Zacki Jabbar, The Island

The UNP said yesterday that the youth had been given a raw deal with the university crisis getting worse due to a shortage of lecturers and lack of hostel facilities.

Gampaha District UNP MP Ruwan Wijewardene said that the Uva Wellassa University did not have sufficient lecturers and around 500 students at the Colombo Campus had been deprived of hostel facilities.

The Sri Jayewardenepura University was faced with a different crisis with the Vice Chancellor suspending some students on false allegations, he noted.

The MP said that the ‘Mahinda Chintana’ had pledged a better future for the youth, but a large number of them had already left the country due to an acute unemployment problem, which was getting worse by the day.

Young men and women, Wijewardena observed had migrated to countries such as Australia and Italy, since they were unable to exist on meagre salaries that they drew here.

The UNP Youth Front had attracted many new members and the recent Youth May Day rally in Badulla was a testimony to their enthusiasm to join the UNP, Wijewardene said.

FUTA ready to blow the whistle on backdoor entrants

May 10, 2013, 10:51 pm , The Island


by Dasun Edirisinghe

The Federation of University Teachers’ Associations (FUTA) yesterday said that they were ready to announce a list of political appointees in universities and the University Grants Commission (UGC).

FUTA President Dr. Nirmal Ranjith Dewasiri told The Island that the university system had been highly politicized during the past four years.

Dr. Dewasiri alleged that appointments of Peradeniya Vice Chancellor and Deputy Vice Chancellor served as examples.

The senior academic said that the FUTA would launch a struggle against the politicisation of universities and expose those political appointees.

"This is one reason for the brain drain," Dr. Dewasiri said, adding that those who went abroad did not come back as they were frustrated due to what was happening in national universities where the deserving academics were denied promotions."

The FUTA chief said that however they asked the UGC to announce the names of those who were overstaying abroad after going for higher studies on government scholarships. He said they had to be dealt with according to the law.

Dr. Dewasiri said that the UGC should recover the funds expended on them for violating the bond between the university and the academics entered prior to going abroad.