Tuesday, June 12, 2012
Universities paralysed for sixth day
June 11, 2012, 9:50 pmby Dasun Edirisinghe, the island
Academic activities and all examinations in universities countrywide were disrupted for the sixth consecutive day yesterday due to the all-out strike launched by the university non-academic staff last Wednesday.
Universities, including the Open University of Sri Lanka, had to postpone the examinations due to the absence of non-academic staff who demand immediate rectification of their salary anomalies.
Media spokesman of the Inter University Trade Union Joint Committee Wijethilake Jayasinghe told The Island that their strike was 100 per cent successful despite threats from the authorities.
He said that the next round of discussion with the Labour Commissioner would be held today and it would decide the fate of the strike.
According to him, the Labour Commissioner and UGC officials insisted, at Saturday’s meeting, that it was difficult to rectify anomalies.
"We will go to the discussion today with our proposals which explain how to rectify them," Jayasinghe said.
He said that the salary anomalies existing in the university non-academic service had been created by the B. C. Perera Salary Commission in 1997.
"Every time we strike, politicians make promises to redress our grievances but nothing has happened so far," the spokesman said.
Higher Education Minister S. B. Dissanayake said that so far the government had been able to rectify 90 per cent of salary anomalies.
"If we grant them a salary hike to rectify anomalies, other officials in the field too will demand a salary hike," he said.
Dissanayake said that the ministry asked non-academic staff to return to work or they would suffer pay cuts for striking days.
UGC Chairman Prof. Gamini Samaranayake said that there was a political agenda behind the strike.
"Most of the non-academic staff members are willing to work but a section, which is politically motivated, have forcibly prevented others from returning to work," he said.
Monday, June 11, 2012
Talks fail, university strike continues
June 10, 2012, 9:21 pmby Dasun Edirisinghe, the island
The strike launched by the university non academic staff demanding rectification of their salary anomalies enters its sixth day today as the latest discussion with the Labour Commissioner and University Grants Commission (UGC) officials failed on Saturday.
Media spokesman of the University Trade Union Joint Committee Wijayathilake Jayasinghe told The Island that the next discussion with the Labour Commissioner would be held tomorrow (12).
President of the Inter University Trade Union Federation R. M. Chandrapala said that successive governments from 2007 broke the promise to rectify salary anomalies.
"Finally present Higher Education Minister S. B. Dissanayake too cheated us," he said.
Chandrapala said now higher education ministry officials including minister Dissanayake said they cannot solve the salary problems and passing the ball to the National Salaries and Cadre Commission and the Finance Ministry. But the Minister and the secretary to the ministry earlier promised to solve the problem immediately.
UGC Chairman Prof. Gamini Samaranayake said that even university drivers got a salary increase than the UGC secretary.
"UGC Secretary got only 11% salary increment, but university drivers got 13% increment," he said.
Prof. Samaranayake said that the non academic staff including administrative officers tried to sabotage final year examinations being held these days.
Higher Education Minister S. B. Dissanayake told a press conference on Thursday that they would not hold talks on outstanding issues while a strike was on.
Secretary to the Higher Education Ministry Dr. Sunil Jayantha Navaratne said that ministry could not increase salaries or rectify anomalies on its own.
"It was totally up to the Finance Ministry and the National Salaries and Cadre Commission, we can only act as a coordinator", Dr. Navaratne said.
Sunday, June 10, 2012
The More Abominable: Fake Degrees Or Professorships? - S. Ratnajeevan H. Hoole
Graduates at a convocation...
The UGC never ceases to amaze me by its ability to posture through high principles which it never practices. Indika Sri Aravinda reports (Leader, 3 June) that the UGC will henceforth fine illegal doctorates and that according to the UGC Chairman, issuing doctorates for a payment is illegal.
In Sri Lanka the Universities Act purports to regulate the issuance of degrees but it really cannot regulate foreign degrees. Besides, even legitimate universities, including UGC universities, always require some payment by way of fees for any doctorate.
Reputable magazines like The Economist advertise degrees for ‘life experience.’ The organization’s ‘Affordable Career Degrees,’ for a payment, will issue doctorates with ‘no classes, no studies and no exams’ based on your knowledge and experience. Ashwood University of Clinton, IA in the US offers a Bachelor’s Degree and a Master’s Degree at $599 each, a Doctorate for $849, and all three together at the cut-rate price of $1,448! If I choose to get a degree from them, on what basis would the UGC fine me? Their degrees are legitimate by a legitimate institution and their fees too are legitimate for assessing an applicant as they claim to do.
What one can question, however, is their degrees’ academic merit. The UGC has powers to recognize degrees and that is how these degrees should be tackled to save unwitting employers from employing the holders of such degrees and unwitting parents from marrying off their daughters to them.
On the other hand, the far more serious problem is when people without the requisite credentials take over our national universities and run them with their fake professorships. They rapidly infect the system and everything falls apart as has happened.
Consider the appointment of the present UGC Chairman in 2006 for services to the President in his 2005 election campaign and in drafting his manifesto. To be UGC Chairman, the only process is lobbying without any formal announcement, application, nomination or even a CV. Now put politicians who need not have ever been to a university making that appointment – and we have the broad decay of universities we see today and appointments of unqualified stooges and ‘tail-holders,’ embezzlers, and party men from ministry lists without open advertisements, etc.. Our politicians’ only consideration is promoting the party, not the university system. Good academics whom we badly need, flee in horror.
The Chairman was a mere Associate Professor then without any academic lustre. At the UGC his reputation is that letters that he needs to write take a long time coming because he cannot write, but the Secretary’s (a career appointment) come out quickly. In 2006 March the Chairman had already been appointed as VC Rajarata despite being only an Associate Professor and then was appointed to oversee the university system as UGC Chairman, making the rules for promotions, nominating persons to professorial selection committees, etc. It was a wrong appointment when there were many more accomplished persons at the rank of professor and especially when he himself would have a conflict of interest in going through a promotion he would have a say on. No one dared to protest because we in the system rely on political favours or at least the favours of the politically favoured like our VCs. We got what we deserve.
The UGC website presently lists him as a Senior Professor at Peradeniya. In between he was listed as Professor, Rajarata. That is, if the claims are true, he has gone through a double promotion from Associate Professor in 2006 when he became Chairman to Professor and Senior Professor, and two changes of employer too (rather than a release from Peradeniya to be VC at Rajarata).
Circular 838 of 26 Jan. 2004 specifies for Senior Professor only two routes: A Professor who has completed a total of eight years of service as Professor (counting also the steps given at the time of appointment as service) or someone with a higher doctorate. A mysterious amendment through Circular 897 dated 8 July 2008 under this Chairman also allows steps at promotion to Professor to be counted. The public has a right to know from where he got the 8 years as professor. Did he as UGC Chairman persuade some university to promote him to Professor with steps? If so would those on the selection committee including the VC of the relevant university have dared to say no to the UGC Chairman who determined grants to that university? Did he nominate the UGC nominees to his own selection committees for his two promotions and two appointments as Professor at Rajarata and then back to Peradeniya? Indeed, was Circular 897 written by the UGC specifically for the Chairman’s promotion? Any explanation, whatever it may be, would have ugly connotations.
The UGC website also lists its Chairman’s degrees as “BA (Hons.), MA, Ph.D. (St. Andrews)”. The convention is that when multiple degrees are listed with only the name of one university at the end, then all the degrees listed are from the one named university. When then did he earn his BA and MA from St. Andrews? I say he has no BA (Hons) from St. Andrews as claimed and I believe no MA either.
The UGC website also lists Commission Member Subramaniam Mohandas [sic., really Mohanadas] as “Professor in Chemistry, University of Jaffna.” His also was a classic political appointment as VC Jaffna in 2003 at the behest of Minister Douglas Devananda while an Associate Professor of Agricultural Chemistry there. Even that promotion to Associate Professor was dubious because, from my recollection of his CV which I read as a member of the UGC at one time, he hardly has any journal publications. Unlike the Chairman, he as VC did not put himself through a promotion with conflicts of interest. When he retired from University of Jaffna, he lost all rights to his title of Associate Professor because the Emeritus Professorship is given, if at all it is, only to those retiring at the full rank of Professor. How then did he acquire the rank of Professor, let alone of Professor of Chemistry, after he retired? Was he rehired by the University of Jaffna to the Department of Chemistry for him to be listed as he is? Under the Act, the UGC has no powers to confer degrees or professorships. ‘Dr.’ Mohanadas is good and beautiful. ‘Professor’ is a university title and is not necessarily higher than ‘Dr.’ when outside a university. But in our vanity we seem to want to strut around with every title we can add, legitimate or not.
If just two of the UGC listings I am personally familiar with are either fake or manipulated, how about the rest?
This is what happens when high appointments are made to reward political cronies and hangers on rather than on merit. A couple of people buying doctorates to strut around in society for a little status, might cheat a few. But when former Vice Chancellors and UGC Members and the Chairman misuse the system to claim high titles for themselves, they destroy the very academic fabric of the nation, just as appointing the unqualified as VC and UGC Chairman for the sake of the ruling party began that process of decay – for such unqualified persons need to cook up fake qualifications to show themselves to be qualified to justify their undeserved high offices. The President must take note. Under threat of trumped up criminal charges for an article he wrote in The Sunday Leader on election malpractices by Minister Douglas Devananda, the author fled Sri Lanka where he and his wife had been terminated from their permanent academic positions and refused appointments even as Senior Lecturer. Both were quickly absorbed at full-professor’s rank at Michigan State University, a top-50 national research university in the US.
In Sri Lanka the Universities Act purports to regulate the issuance of degrees but it really cannot regulate foreign degrees. Besides, even legitimate universities, including UGC universities, always require some payment by way of fees for any doctorate.
Reputable magazines like The Economist advertise degrees for ‘life experience.’ The organization’s ‘Affordable Career Degrees,’ for a payment, will issue doctorates with ‘no classes, no studies and no exams’ based on your knowledge and experience. Ashwood University of Clinton, IA in the US offers a Bachelor’s Degree and a Master’s Degree at $599 each, a Doctorate for $849, and all three together at the cut-rate price of $1,448! If I choose to get a degree from them, on what basis would the UGC fine me? Their degrees are legitimate by a legitimate institution and their fees too are legitimate for assessing an applicant as they claim to do.
What one can question, however, is their degrees’ academic merit. The UGC has powers to recognize degrees and that is how these degrees should be tackled to save unwitting employers from employing the holders of such degrees and unwitting parents from marrying off their daughters to them.
On the other hand, the far more serious problem is when people without the requisite credentials take over our national universities and run them with their fake professorships. They rapidly infect the system and everything falls apart as has happened.
Consider the appointment of the present UGC Chairman in 2006 for services to the President in his 2005 election campaign and in drafting his manifesto. To be UGC Chairman, the only process is lobbying without any formal announcement, application, nomination or even a CV. Now put politicians who need not have ever been to a university making that appointment – and we have the broad decay of universities we see today and appointments of unqualified stooges and ‘tail-holders,’ embezzlers, and party men from ministry lists without open advertisements, etc.. Our politicians’ only consideration is promoting the party, not the university system. Good academics whom we badly need, flee in horror.
The Chairman was a mere Associate Professor then without any academic lustre. At the UGC his reputation is that letters that he needs to write take a long time coming because he cannot write, but the Secretary’s (a career appointment) come out quickly. In 2006 March the Chairman had already been appointed as VC Rajarata despite being only an Associate Professor and then was appointed to oversee the university system as UGC Chairman, making the rules for promotions, nominating persons to professorial selection committees, etc. It was a wrong appointment when there were many more accomplished persons at the rank of professor and especially when he himself would have a conflict of interest in going through a promotion he would have a say on. No one dared to protest because we in the system rely on political favours or at least the favours of the politically favoured like our VCs. We got what we deserve.
The UGC website presently lists him as a Senior Professor at Peradeniya. In between he was listed as Professor, Rajarata. That is, if the claims are true, he has gone through a double promotion from Associate Professor in 2006 when he became Chairman to Professor and Senior Professor, and two changes of employer too (rather than a release from Peradeniya to be VC at Rajarata).
Circular 838 of 26 Jan. 2004 specifies for Senior Professor only two routes: A Professor who has completed a total of eight years of service as Professor (counting also the steps given at the time of appointment as service) or someone with a higher doctorate. A mysterious amendment through Circular 897 dated 8 July 2008 under this Chairman also allows steps at promotion to Professor to be counted. The public has a right to know from where he got the 8 years as professor. Did he as UGC Chairman persuade some university to promote him to Professor with steps? If so would those on the selection committee including the VC of the relevant university have dared to say no to the UGC Chairman who determined grants to that university? Did he nominate the UGC nominees to his own selection committees for his two promotions and two appointments as Professor at Rajarata and then back to Peradeniya? Indeed, was Circular 897 written by the UGC specifically for the Chairman’s promotion? Any explanation, whatever it may be, would have ugly connotations.
The UGC website also lists its Chairman’s degrees as “BA (Hons.), MA, Ph.D. (St. Andrews)”. The convention is that when multiple degrees are listed with only the name of one university at the end, then all the degrees listed are from the one named university. When then did he earn his BA and MA from St. Andrews? I say he has no BA (Hons) from St. Andrews as claimed and I believe no MA either.
The UGC website also lists Commission Member Subramaniam Mohandas [sic., really Mohanadas] as “Professor in Chemistry, University of Jaffna.” His also was a classic political appointment as VC Jaffna in 2003 at the behest of Minister Douglas Devananda while an Associate Professor of Agricultural Chemistry there. Even that promotion to Associate Professor was dubious because, from my recollection of his CV which I read as a member of the UGC at one time, he hardly has any journal publications. Unlike the Chairman, he as VC did not put himself through a promotion with conflicts of interest. When he retired from University of Jaffna, he lost all rights to his title of Associate Professor because the Emeritus Professorship is given, if at all it is, only to those retiring at the full rank of Professor. How then did he acquire the rank of Professor, let alone of Professor of Chemistry, after he retired? Was he rehired by the University of Jaffna to the Department of Chemistry for him to be listed as he is? Under the Act, the UGC has no powers to confer degrees or professorships. ‘Dr.’ Mohanadas is good and beautiful. ‘Professor’ is a university title and is not necessarily higher than ‘Dr.’ when outside a university. But in our vanity we seem to want to strut around with every title we can add, legitimate or not.
If just two of the UGC listings I am personally familiar with are either fake or manipulated, how about the rest?
This is what happens when high appointments are made to reward political cronies and hangers on rather than on merit. A couple of people buying doctorates to strut around in society for a little status, might cheat a few. But when former Vice Chancellors and UGC Members and the Chairman misuse the system to claim high titles for themselves, they destroy the very academic fabric of the nation, just as appointing the unqualified as VC and UGC Chairman for the sake of the ruling party began that process of decay – for such unqualified persons need to cook up fake qualifications to show themselves to be qualified to justify their undeserved high offices. The President must take note. Under threat of trumped up criminal charges for an article he wrote in The Sunday Leader on election malpractices by Minister Douglas Devananda, the author fled Sri Lanka where he and his wife had been terminated from their permanent academic positions and refused appointments even as Senior Lecturer. Both were quickly absorbed at full-professor’s rank at Michigan State University, a top-50 national research university in the US.
--- Courtesy The Sunday Leader 10/06/2012
http://www.thesundayleader.lk/2012/06/10/the-more-abominable-fake-degrees-or-professorships/
Friday, June 8, 2012
No talks till non-academics stop strike - SB
June 7, 2012, 12:00 pm , the island
by Dasun Edirisinghe
Higher Education Minister S. B. Dissanayake yesterday ruled out any discussion with university non-academic staff while they were on strike. If they wanted a discussion with ministry officials they had to stop the strike and report back to work, he said.
Addressing a media conference at the Higher Education Ministry auditorium, he said that the ministry was ready to have a discussion with all stakeholders including officials from National Salaries and Cadre Commission (NSCC), Finance Ministry and the University Grants Commission with a view to settling the dispute.
Demanding immediate rectification of salary anomalies, university non-academics, including administrative officers, commenced a strike on Wednesday, paralysing universities.
The strike enters the third day today.
Minister Dissanayake said that his ministry was helpless as regards the rectification of salary anomalies.
"We can’t increase salaries or rectify anomalies," he said, adding that it was the NSCC and the Finance Ministry which could do so.
UGC Chairman Prof. Gamini Samaranayake said that anyone could launch strikes, but they would not be paid for the days they had not worked on.
"It is not our decision, but an ILO rule," he said, adding that if they did not work, the government would not pay them as they were receiving their salaries from public funds.
Prof. Samaranayake alleged that there was a politically motivated section in the non-academic trade unions responsible for the strike. "This is the exam time for the final year students in most of universities and the non-academic staff timed their trade union action for the exams,’ Prof. Samaranayake said.
President of the Inter University Trade Union Federation R. M. Chandrapala said that they had been cheated several times by authorities but this time around they would not stop the strike until their demands were met.
"We are ready to discuss with officials while on strike," he said.
Wednesday, June 6, 2012
Talks fail, Uni. non-academics strike
June 5, 2012, 12:00 pmby Dasun Edirisinghe,the island
University non-academic staff, including administrative officers, will go on strike from today (06) as yesterday’s discussion with Higher Education Ministry officials failed.
President of the Inter University Trade Union Federation R. M. Chandrapala told The Island that they decided to launch an all out strike against the government’s failure to provide a solution to longstanding anomalies in their salaries.
"We went for yesterday’s discussion seeking a solution, because we don’t want to put university students into trouble," he said adding that Higher Education Secretary Dr. Sunil Jayantha Navaratne had failed to give them a written assurance on their demand.
Chandrapala said that Higher Education Minister S. B. Dissanayake did not attend the discussion which was held at the ministry.
Successive governments, since 2007, took this issue lightly, he said adding that minister Dissanayake too took the issue lightly.
"This time we will show our strength to the government," Chandrapala said.
The senior trade unionist said that anomalies in their salaries had not been rectified for nearly a decade, but other government officials, including university teachers, got salary hikes during that period.
He said that this time they would not give up their struggle until the demands were met.
Chandrapala said however, they were ready for any discussions with the government while on strike.
Friday, June 1, 2012
Procedure for appointing Vice Chancellors outdated
New breed of institutional leaders for internationalising SL Universities- III
May 31, 2012, 7:40 pm , the island
By Professor Ranjith Senaratne
Vice Chairman
University Grants Commission
(E-mail:ransen.ru@gmail.com)
Origin of the post of Vice Chancellor
Continued from yesterday
How to recruit such leaders?
The procedure presently adopted in appointing Vice Chancellors is outdated and out of step with current needs. The advertisement presently used by the universities calling for applications for the post of Vice Chancellor does not adequately describe the type of candidate who should be sought to meet the current and emerging challenges and opportunities in the highly globalised higher education sector and the national policy of promoting innovation and entrepreneurialism, raising the world-ranking of Sri Lankan universities and making Sri Lanka an educational hub. Notably, the advertisement does not define the role and responsibilities of the Vice Chancellor and the attributes one should possess to perform the role and deliver the responsibilities effectively. Circular no. 880 of 15.08.2006 concerning the appointment of a Search Committee to identify suitable candidates is in this respect faulty and self-defeating. This is because the above circular allows the appointment the Search Committee to be done under the chairmanship of the incumbent Vice Chancellor. Therefore if someone is interested in having another term or is interested in appointing a successor of his or her choice, the point of appointing a search committee is lost: it cannot perform its proper role. All of us subscribe to the adage that "Justice should not only be done, it should also seem to be done". Therefore the appointment of the Search Committee should be made by a high-profile independent body appointed by the UGC, whose composition may be similar for all universities. This matter is currently under review by the UGC.
Presently announcements of vacancy for the post of Vice Chancellor are published only in local newspapers and the university webpage. In addition, except in newly established universities, the candidates who apply are mostly from the university where the vacancy exists, with hardly any candidates from other well established universities. For instance, if the vacancy is in the University of Peradeniya, there will be hardly any applicants from other universities. This "inbreeding tradition" is inimical to maintaining and fostering high academic standards and should be discontinued forthwith. It is always desirable to have a larger pool to select from. As pointed out earlier, even countries less developed than Sri Lanka, i.e. Bangladesh, Uganda and Rwanda, publish such announcements in international, widely read, high profile journals such as the Economist, the Times Higher Education Supplement, Time and the like in order to attract the best possible leaders. As mentioned the above, even universities such as Oxford and Cambridge are breaking with their jealously guarded traditions and are calling for application internationally and recruiting Vice Chancellors from outside the UK, something that was simply unimaginable in the past. That is how universities elsewhere are responding to change in order to be competitive or rather "surpetitive" – a word coined by Edward de Bono to mean to surpass others, to be ahead of others.
Here, the Search Committee has a crucial role to play in headhunting at home and abroad, particularly among Sri Lankan expatriates with a view to encouraging high calibre senior dons with necessary attributes, capacity and proven track record to apply for positions such as Vice Chancellor. To this end, attention may also be paid to invite accomplished senior executives from the civil service and the private sector. It is pertinent to note that, breaking away from established tradition, the first Vice Chancellor of the Uva-Wellassa University (UWU), Mr. Chandra Embuldeniya was appointed from the private sector. This university has emerged as a model with an entrepreneurial dimension under the able leadership of Mr. Embuldeniya. The ratio of academic staff to non-academic staff of this university is about 1:0.5 as opposed to 1: 2 (or even more) in other universities, thus the former does not carry excess "baggage" so that the funds thus saved have been used to enhance the academic programmes. In addition, of the 15 universities in Sri Lanka, it is the only the UWU, which has not been paying a single hour of overtime to its employees, which is truly commendable. Besides, there has been absolutely no interruption to the academic programmes due to student protests or trade union action at the UWU during his tenure as the Vice Chancellor, while academic programmes in other universities have been brought to a grinding halt on several occasions in the past few years owing to trade union action. Such interruptions do not augur well when the Government is promoting the recruitment of foreign students to Sri Lankan universities with a view to making Sri Lanka an educational hub. Therefore, future Vice Chancellors should have the necessary skills and strategies to minimise such interruption in universities so that they can attract and retain foreign students in line with government policy.
At present, the role of the Vice Chancellor is not clearly defined in the light of current needs and challenges and the attributes one should have in order to discharge the role are also not identified. These are of prime importance in selecting and recruiting the right candidate as Vice Chancellor. It should be stressed, however, that attractive remuneration and employment conditions are prerequisites to attract top-flight leaders as Vice Chancellors. At present, there is hardly any financial incentive to take on the demanding role of a Vice Chancellor. The salary differences between the institution’s CEO and its other officials are often so small that they do not compensate for the added burden of work, the greater responsibilities and the "occupational hazards" entailed. In a number of cases, the Vice Chancellor is not even receiving the highest salary paid at the institution. Thus offering remuneration befitting the coveted position is important to attract outstanding CEOs for the universities.
Proposed role and attributes of institutional leaders in a competitive knowledge-based globalised environment
Proposed role and attributes a Vice-Chancellor should have in order to meet the emerging challenges and the opportunities in a competitive globalised environment are given below.
Proposed role:
* To provide strategic, inspirational and operational leadership to the University
* To promote an outward facing profile of the University
* To articulate a compelling and distinctive strategy for the University to elevate its profile
* To enhance student outcomes and all aspects of the student experience
* To drive forward academic excellence with an innovative and entrepreneurial spirit
* To act as a highly visible and persuasive advocate for the University in enhancing its image
* To champion and represent the interests of the University to the government, the public, the local community, funding bodies and donors
* To act as an ambassador, and promote and build trans-sector University partnerships and collaboration, regionally, nationally and internationally
Desired attributes:
* Should be able to demonstrate a strong resonance with the University’s values and ethos and articulate an ambitious and strategic vision for its future development
* Must have significant leadership experience with academic credibility, intellectual standing, political acumen and a strong record of achievement and successful change management
* Should demonstrate strong commitment to excellence in teaching, research, business and industrial liaison and community services with international outlook
* Should be entrepreneurial, commercially and financially astute with a deep understanding of the complexities and challenges of the Higher Education Sector
* Should have excellent communication, networking and fundraising skills as well as sound judgment
* Should posses a genuine empathy with students
* Should have the ability to foster relationship at the highest levels with political, educational, industrial and business partners at regional, national and international levels
It should be stressed that even visionary and dynamic Vice-Chancellors with right mindset, attributes and skills are appointed, if they are not given adequate operational autonomy, much improvement in the performance of the universities cannot be expected. It is a frequent complaint of the Vice-Chancellors that they are shackled and straitjacketed owing to outdated and anachronistic administrative and financial regulations (AR & FR) and lack of adequate autonomy. This has hindered and undermined their performance. Thus Universities should also be given unfettered operational autonomy along with accountability while ensuring the appointment of right leaders. Moreover, for the operational autonomy to be meaningful and effective, it is essential to have a highly competent and independent Council that can advise and guide the university administration. These matters are due to be taken up shortly at a workshop to be conducted by the UGC jointly with the Ministry of Higher Education.
Here I wish to stress that this paper by no means makes any reference to the calibre, capacity and attributes of the present Vice-Chancellors in the Sri Lankan Universities in relation to the role that they are expected to play. The proposals only represent a realistic vision of institutional leaders with attributes that will enable them to play effectively and efficiently the role that they are likely to be assigned in a fast changing global context so that they may fulfil contemporary needs in keeping with national policy.
Conclusions
Sri Lanka is currently moving towards a knowledge-based society with attendant transformation of its economy from national to global. This, while opening up manifold opportunities for expanding higher education and attracting foreign students, poses numerous challenges and threats to the local universities. Therefore while tapping into emerging opportunities, it is of utmost importance to deal with the new challenges. This situation demands innovative and entrepreneurial approach, creative solutions and a new leadership - one that is conversant with the behaviour of complex adaptive systems and able to make effective decisions under different strategic and risk scenarios. To this end, Sri Lankan universities badly need leaders who are vested with strong interpersonal skills, who are politically astute, economically savvy, business aware and who use their emotional intelligence to lead universities towards internationalisation.
This demands a new breed of top-flight transformative leaders with right mindset, skills and attitude to respond to change that is sweeping across the higher education landscape. Offering remunerations befitting the position is, however, a pre-requisite to attract and retain such leaders. I must add that the ideas expressed herein are purely those of the author, and they do not any way reflect the views of the UGC or its stand in regard to the subject at issue. The author would appreciate the comments and observations of readers on this subject.
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