GMOA give ultimatum Wednesday, 07 September 2011 14:00 The Government Medical Officers' Association (GMOA) gave an ultimatum to S. B. Dissanayake, Minister of Higher Education to withdraw the gazette notification approving the Malabe Private Medical Faculty and suspend enrolment of students to the Private Medical Faculty with immediate effect. The GMOA further added that if the minister fails to meet these two demands in seven days it will launch all island trade union action. (Sandun A. Jayasekera)

SB defends giving MPMC degree awarding status

September 6, 2011, 9:10 pm

by Dasun Edirisinghe

Despite doctors threatening to strike on Wednesday (07) in protest against the granting of degree awarding status to the Malabe Private Medical College, the Higher Education Ministry yesterday reiterated its commitment to allow private universities operate in the country.

Higher Education Minister S. B. Dissanayake told a media briefing at the University Grants Commission (UGC) yesterday that the Malabe Private Medical College (South Asian Institute of Technology and Medicine - SAITM) had been seeking the degree awarding status since 2008, though the UGC gave approval after monitoring it for 2 years and 11 months.

"The SAITM had sent their application seeking approval to award degrees on September 30, 2008," he said adding that before they granted approval, the UGC team, including senior professors, consultant doctors and members from the Sri Lanka Medical Council (SLMC) inspected the institute and their programmes.

The minister said that the SAITM fulfilled the UGC’s guidelines and standards before being the degree awarding status was approved.

Dissanayake said that government’s policy was to allow private universities here, but not the way former President J. R. Jayewardena approved some private medical institutions in 1981.

He charged that although the Government Medical Officers Association (GMOA) was protesting against the SAITM, the sons and daughters of most of doctors were going overseas for higher education every year.

"We ask the GMOA to not to put innocent patients in trouble by launching trade union action," Dissanayake said.

GMOA refuses to accept private medical uni

Tuesday, 06 September 2011 18:24

In the midst of protests by the Government Medical Officers Association (GMOA) which had refused to accept the legality of the private medical university in Malabe, the Higher Education Minister today vowed that the university will continue to function and that many more private universitiesof the kind will be established in Sri Lanka in the future.

Minister S. B. Dissanayake said the Asian Institute of Technology and Medicine (SAITM), the first private medical university in Sri Lanka which was established in 2008, is a legally functioning, accredited institution although the GMOA has said that it should not have legal recognition on the basis that the medical college was functioning as a branch of a Russian university and therefore could be legally established in the country.

The Government Medical Officers’ Association (GMOA) has vowed to continue with a strike tomorrow. “We will definitely stage an all-island strike tomorrow in protest against the authority’s decision to legalise the medical institution,” a GMOA sources said today. The GMOA has also decided to withdraw its membership from the SLMC, if the institution is accepted as legal entity. (Olindhi Jayasundere)

Dodamgolla farm handed over to Peradeniya University Thursday, 01 September 2011 01:06 The Land and Land Development Ministry has after 43 years decided to legally handover the Dodamgolla farm and research institute to the Peradeniya University Agricultural Faculty for research and educational purposes.   At present this institution trains officials in agriculture under the ‘Divineguma’ project and provides knowledge in new agricultural technology to university students and those involved in agriculture. NM Total Views: 35

 

 

Thieves remove laptop from VC’s office Friday, 02 September 2011 00:00 By Krishan Jeewaka Jayaruk Thieves entered the official residence of the Vice Chancellor of the University of Ruhuna and took away a lap top worth around Rs.110,000. Vice Chancellor Professor Susirith Mendis lodged a complaint with the Matara police after discovering the loss. The suspects had also eaten chocolates which were in the fridge, the police said. A special team had been deployed into the area to arrest the suspects who were believed to be residents of the area.

* Sri Lanka's Higher Education Ministry to upgrade six local universities to fit world standards
Thu, Sep 1, 2011, 11:07 am SL Time, ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
Sept 01, Colombo: The Higher Education Ministry of Sri Lanka is to upgrade six local universities in order to achieve top ranks in the world university rankings.
The infrastructure, curriculum and foreign student intake in the Colombo, Peradeniya, Moratuwa, Ruhuna, Kelaniya and Sri Jayawardenapura universities are to be upgraded within the next few years.
Higher Education Ministry Secretary, Dr. Sunil Navaratne has said the main objective of the programme is to receive ranks above 1,000 in the world renowned university ranking systems.
Local universities are currently ranked at 3,500-5,000 range in world rankings.
Dr. Navaratne has said that there are several criteria to be fulfilled in order to achieve a rank above 1,000.
The universities must have publications in world class peer-reviewed journals, foreign student intake, and foreign academic teaching. Also the university should produce globally employable graduates, he has noted.
There are reportedly three well known university rankings - Webometrics, QS World University Ranking and Times Higher Education ranking.
According to the Webometrics ranking, Peradeniya University is ranked at 2,220, Colombo at 2,240, Moratuwa at 2,573, Ruhuna at 3,514, Open University at 5,988, Jayawardenapura at 6,382 and Kelaniya at 6,594.

Docs strike tomorrow

Against Pvt. Medical College

September 5, 2011, 9:41 pm


By Dilanthi Jayamanne

Doctors will stage a countrywide strike tomorrow (07) in protest against the gazette notification issued by Higher Education Minister S. B. Dissanayake recognising Malabe Private Medical College as a degree awarding institute.

Assistant Secretary of the Government Medical Officers’ Association Dr. Sankalpa Marasinghe said yesterday that the Minister has legalised the Malabe PMC by issuing the Extraordinary Gazette Notification 1721-19 of Aug. 30, 2011.

He said It has been recognised as an institution which awards MBBS degrees similar to those issued by government medical faculties. The government has also provided six hundred million rupees to the Malabe PMC to build a teaching hospital.

He said that this was proof that it did not have a teaching hospital of its own, which is one of the GMOA’s bones of contention.

Minister Dissanayake had also violated section 70 of the University Act. The Minister has to appoint a special panel to assess whether a private medical institution was suitable to be awarded such a status. However information has it that three of the members of a seven-member panel had expressed their disapproval and made their recommendations against such a step, Dr. Marasinghe said.

He said that Castle Street Hospital for Women, De Soyza Maternity Home, Lady

Ridgeway Children’s Hospital and the Maharagama Cancer Institute would be exempted from the strike. They will also attend to all emergencies. However routine work would be disrupted.

‘Invaluable opportunity to gain admission as professional graduate chemists’

August 14, 2011, 10:04 pm

The College of Chemical Sciences, which is the educational arm of the Institute of Chemistry, Ceylon, commences on January 7th next year, a revised Graduateship Programme that will lead, after four years, to the award of the Graduateship of the Institute of Chemistry in 2015. Such Graduateship Programmes have been conducted for 33 years since 1979 and are equivalent to that of a Special Degree Programme in Chemistry conducted by a recognised University.

Advanced Registration is now in progress and students who possess three Advanced Level passes OR are hopeful of obtaining same at the examination that is now being held should contact the Institute Headquarters at Adamantane House, 341/22, Kotte Road, Welikada, Rajagiriya (phone 2861653/2861231) and obtain application forms free of charge as well as and other documents and information. They could also download same from the web site www.jchemc.com and attend an Orientation Session that is being held at 10 15 am on Saturday August 27tb at the said address.

Professor J N Oleap Fernando, the Honorary Rector of the College states in a News release that successful completion of the programme enables admission as professional Graduate Chemists, who are recognised both in Sri Lanka and abroad, for postgraduate studies leading to Doctoral Degrees, as well as for recruitment as Chemists and for numerous other positions that require Honours degrees in Chemistry. More that half of the 734 Graduate Chemists who have passed out over the past three decades have obtained post-graduate degrees from Universities throughout the world and this includes about 70 who have obtained their PhD degrees.

The news release also states that while scholarships, prizes and bursaries are continuously available during the programme for meritorious and needy students, the amount otherwise payable for the four year Programme amounts to only about Rs 250,000 which works out to about Rs 5,250 per month for those who register before the advanced registration deadline of 15th September. Many students spend much more in following tuition classes to supplement their Advanced Level studies. Prospective students are also assured that they would complete the entire programme with no delays whatsoever by October 2015. Prospective students and their parents are advised to use this wonderful and unique opportunity to become Graduate Chemists by following a time tested and very well recognised professional programme in Chemistry that is offered by the largest provider of such chemists in the shortest possible time and at the least possible cost in Sri Lanka.

(Press release)

Science and research

August 14, 2011, 8:26 pm

by Carlo Fonseka

When I was a member of the University Grants Commission, (UGC) the Center for Advanced Studies (a creation of the educational visionary Prof. Senake Bandaranayake) conducted a workshop on ‘Research Methodology and Thesis Writing’. I was required to make a 20 – minute presentation on the subject of ‘Science and Research’. In the context of the on-going dialogue on that subject in the columns of The Island, I thought the Editor might be interested in the presentation I made. What follows is the text of my presentation.

Text

To talk meaningfully on the subject of Science and Research in 20 minutes is a tall order but it must be attempted. Let me begin with a banality. Like all living things, human beings seek to avoid suffering and pursue happiness, as best as they can. We try to do that on the basis of judgments we make about the nature of the world we live in. We make judgments about our physical environment, our fellow beings and our own selves. These judgments are computations of our brains based on information about different aspects of the world obtained through sense organs such as our eyes and ears.

Appearance and Reality

Our attempt to avoid suffering and to pursue happiness will be successful only to the extent that our judgments about the world correspond to the real nature of the world. These judgments are not always reliable because, apart from being prone to corrigible error, our brains are also susceptible to delusions, illusions and hallucinations. A delusion is a demonstrably false belief which is persisted in despite verifiable evidence to the contrary. Delusions are a well known symptom of insanity. Illusions are false interpretations of some real objects or phenomena. A classic example is a mirage. Hallucinations are objectless sensations i.e. perceptions of non-existing things. e. g. hearing voices when nobody is speaking and seeing visions that others cannot see. Hallucinations are usually evidence of mental disorder. Because humans have an insight into how their brains work, they have collectively discovered a method for minimizing error and thereby making their judgments about the world more reliable. That method is the method of science as a technique. As Karl Marx famously said, "all science would be superfluous if the outward appearance and the essence of things directly coincided." Judgments we make by scientific method constitute what we truly know about the world i.e. knowledge. In this view, knowledge consists of judgments based on perceptions and verified by critically evaluated experience i.e. empirically verified.

Necessary and Sufficient

In such a context, a question immediately poses itself: What are the conditions that must be satisfied before one can validly claim to know something truly? For example, that you know that somebody else’s cigarette can kill you or that there will be an insurrection in this country this year. To answer these questions, we have to discuss however briefly the theory of knowledge, that is the branch of philosophy called epistemology. The question we have to discuss is this: What are the conditions that are necessary and sufficient for you to claim validly that you really know something? As philosopher A. J. Ayer has lucidly expounded in his book called The Problem of Knowledge (1956) three conditions have to be satisfied.

First: what you claim to know must be true.

Second: you must be sure it is true.

Third: you must have the right to be sure that it is true.

Research

Let it be said at once that research – more accurately research using scientific methodology – is essentially concerned with establishing your right to be sure that your claim to knowledge is a valid one. Let me illustrate the matter by taking a simple example. Suppose you say that you know that there is a mango tree in a certain garden in Mihintale. For you to claim that you really know that there is such a mango tree, first of all, there really must be a mango tree in the garden in question. Though necessary, the fact that there is indeed a mango tree in that garden is not sufficient to validate your claim to knowledge of it. If you had just guessed that there is a mango tree in that garden and your guess had turned out to be true, you cannot claim to have really known it. It was just an instance of a guess which happen to be true. Such an instance does not constitute true knowledge. Therefore in addition to the fact that there is a mango tree in that garden, another condition must be fulfilled to validate your claim to a definite piece of knowledge. That second condition is that you must be sure on the basis of some evidence that there is such a tree. For example, you should have seen it one or more times or seen a photograph of it. But even such subjective certainty on your part that there is such a tree is not sufficient to validate your claim to true knowledge. Why not? Because like everybody else’s brain, your brain too is subject to delusions, illusions and hallucinations. Therefore, a third condition must be satisfied before you can claim true knowledge that there is such a tree. That third condition is that you must have the right to be sure. As has been emphasized already, it is research using a particular methodology that will give you the right to be sure. The essence of the matter is that your claim must be based on evidence and your evidence must be verifiable by other competent observers. Why must this be so? Because what is not publicly checkable may become a matter of disagreement and whenever there is an irresolvable disagreement, we reach a dead end.

Conclusion

So it comes about that the research (methodology and data) on which you base your claim to a particular piece of knowledge e.g. that Rajarata Chronic Kidney Disease is caused by arsenic, must be made available to others for their critical scrutiny and evaluation. There is a standard way in which claims to knowledge are made public. It takes the format of a scientific paper. A scientific paper consists of five parts.

1 Introduction – which serves to define the problem being researched in the form of an empirically testable hypothesis.

2 Methodology – which describes the precise methods that were used to conduct the research.

3 Results – which represent the observations (findings) of the research.

4 Analysis of results – by logical reasoning and if appropriate by the use of statistical techniques.

5 Discussion – to establish your claim to knowledge.

Native speakers

August 13, 2011, 4:28 pm

By Charles Sarvan

Questions about expressions such as "native speaker" and "mother tongue" were raised by Christopher Rezel, Sri Lankan author and journalist now settled in Australia. Though not a language-specialist, I share a few thoughts and perplexities, not necessarily to provide answers but to contribute to on-going discussion.

To begin with "mother tongue", let us say a Swedish family adopts a Vietnamese child of about five or six. Soon, the child will function fluently and naturally in Swedish and yet, in a literal sense, it won’t be her mother tongue, the language of her biological mother. To be precise, Swedish will be her "foster-mother tongue". The phrase "mother tongue" now tends to appear in casual conversation, rather than in writing of a formal or academic nature.

With the other phrase ("native speaker"), the preferred practice when in doubt is to consult, where possible, someone considered to be a "native speaker" rather than checking with a dictionary or book of grammar. If that person finds it "acceptable", then one uses it: "acceptable" usage, rather than "correct", partly because there has been a move away from linguistic dogmatism and authoritarianism towards greater flexibility and variety. Secondly, because language use and the meaning of words change (semantic shift) with time, and the edition of the book consulted may not record the latest. First comes usage, the use of a language by its speakers; grammarians and linguistics observe and describe this linguistic "behaviour" and, finally, teachers and parents attempt to inculcate, turning what was originally "description" into "prescription" and rules. A native-speaker initially "acquires", unconsciously, her language (and may then go on to "learn", consciously, another). But those with limited schooling or those who did not study English as a subject beyond secondary school, while having the confidence to say that a certain usage is "okay", won’t be able to explain the grammatical rules involved.

"Native speakers" are considered to be the "owners" of a language and can take liberties with it; bend, even break, the rules; be idiosyncratic and creative. In ‘A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man’ by (Irish) James Joyce – one of the greatest of 20th century English-language writers - Stephen Dedalus feels uneasy when talking with the Dean, an Englishman:

"The language in which we are speaking is his before it is mine [...] His language, so familiar and so foreign, will always be for me an acquired speech [...] My soul frets in the shadow of his language."

But Joyce’s autobiographical novel was published in 1916, and over the intervening near-century, the role of, and attitude to, English has changed significantly. The language has become the medium of international communication; is recognised as one of India’s languages, and several African countries after independence (Ghana, 1957) retained English as the official language and the medium of instruction in schools. It is now accepted that there is not one but several Englishes. (My computer stubbornly insists on underlining "Englishes" as a mistake.) The International Association for World Englishes publishes a journal with that title: ‘World Englishes’ (Oxford). As I have written elsewhere, during the long years of British imperialism, the term "native" was used condescendingly, if not derogatorily. Meanwhile, "native" has become (sometimes) a matter of fierce contestation. Who is autochthonous? Claims to be the "native", to have arrived at an earlier date in a certain region or country, are really claims to rights and privileges. Similarly, to be recognised as a "native speaker" is to be accorded rights when it comes to language-use

But if English is now native (natural) to different people – Australians, Canadians, New Zealanders, and to some Africans and Asians – then there are native speakers using different forms of English. I have heard some Americans say they speak American, rather than English. (My impression is that young Europeans tend to prefer American-English to the British variety.) It is unfortunate that the same word, "English", applies both to a people and to a language: there are several Indian languages, but no one language known as "Indian". (I recall once being asked at a social gathering whether I "speak Indian"!)

Moving from James Joyce to Chinua Achebe, the latter writes that, talking at a literary conference about non-English writers using English as their medium of creative expression, he was made to feel uncomfortable by the attitude of the Australian poet, A. D. Hope: "I felt somewhat like an illegitimate child face to face with the true son of the house lamenting the excesses of an adventurous and profligate father who had kept a mistress in every port" (‘Morning Yet on Creation Day’). But, Achebe asserts, the "price a world language must be prepared to pay is submission to many different kinds of use". If English has become the world’s language, then no one group can claim ownership, privilege and status. Universality implies equality.

Can we, therefore, say there are Sri Lankan native-speakers of English? What is the difference between someone who is a "native speaker" of English and another to whom it is her "first language"? The latter phrase does not mean the language first learnt – see the Vietnamese child adopted by Swedes – but the language in which a person is now best, and most fully, able to express herself. It seems to me that while a language can become a speaker’s "first language" (in the sense in which I use it) gradually, over time and later in life, "native speaker" implies a very early immersion in that language (and in the culture of which that language is part and expression). The characters in Carl Muller’s Burgher novels pride themselves on having English as their language, the one spoken at home.

While one’s "native language" may also be the "first", the converse does not necessarily apply: someone can be a native-speaker of a language, and have another as her first. In Zambia (unless things have changed in the intervening years), the medium of instruction from Grade 1 to university is English. It is the (only) medium of government and administration. So a Zambian could be a native speaker of, say, Bemba or Nyanja (the latter in the capital, Lusaka), and have English as her first language, the language in which she was best able to express her thoughts and enter into discussion. Zambian languages do not have the vocabulary to cope with science, medicine, engineering, philosophy and other such subjects. It is a cycle: the language is not used in certain fields and, therefore, does not have the vocabulary; it doesn’t have the vocabulary, and cannot be used. So it was, I believe, with Sinhala and Tamil until the end of the 1950s.

Bilinguals are native speakers, and feel at home in two languages. One test of the role language plays in the life of an individual is said to be the answer to the question, "In what language do you dream?" My sons tell me they dream either in German or in English, depending on where the dream is located – in Germany or in some English-speaking country (including London) where they lived - and the individuals who figure in the dream. I would think there are Sri Lankans who are bilingual native-speakers: English and Sinhala or Tamil.

It is not unusual for English-language schools to insist on employing only native-speaker teachers, and to draw the attention of potential students to this fact: it is very good for business. (In the past, "native-speakers only" translated into "whites only".) Of course, not all native speakers of a language have a perfect "control" of their language, and by "native speaker" is meant someone who has, what is now termed, "native-speaker competence".

To express it differently, not all native-speakers have what is meant by "native-speaker competence" - while some who are not may.

External, non-linguistic, factors play a very important (if not decisive) role. Originally, "barbarian" meant one who did not speak Greek and, therefore, was thought to be uncivilized. The Romans came along, included themselves, and by extension, barbarians came to denote those who spoke neither Greek nor Latin. And so it was with English within the British Empire – in geographical extent, the greatest empire the world has ever seen. "Natives" (in the pejorative meaning) either didn’t speak English or did so in a manner that served to amuse, and to confirm British superiority: see, for example, the imitation in popular comedy (among others by Peter Sellers) of the so-called Indian or Oriental accent. Non-Westerners joined in the laughter directed at them, some innocently; some, particularly of the middle and upper class, desperately trying to distance themselves from the caricature. Irrespective of time and place, irrespective of which empire, it was the social elite of the defeated who tended to imitate and assimilate elements of the conqueror’s culture, including the language. To speak English signalled education and social status. It also provided employment opportunity which, in turn, further enhanced social standing.

Going a step further, if to speak English bestowed social recognition, then to speak it like an Englishman brought a still greater measure of regard and admiration, that is, from those who did not accept that English was one of Sri Lanka’s languages; that Sri Lankan English was a legitimate variety, different but fully equal. (Of course, there is no one "English accent" but regional – even area – and class accents.)

As Achebe writes (op. cit.), one of the greatest of faults of non-Western people is their lack of self-confidence (despite protest and bluster to the contrary) vis-a-vis the Western world which, in turn, indicates a deep down acceptance of inferiority.

The fault is not in our stars [fate] But in ourselves

(Julius Caesar, Act 1, Scene 2)