Talks fail, Uni. non-academics strike

June 5, 2012, 12:00 pm

by 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.

Procedure for appointing Vice Chancellors outdated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The procedure presently adopted in appointing Vice Chancellors is outdated and out of step with current needs.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.

(Concled)

Universities under pressure to be flexible and responsive to current needs

New breed of institutional leaders for internationalising SL Universities:

May 30, 2012, 8:18 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

In many parts of the world, universities are now powerful catalysts and agents of growth and wealth creators. They mobilize and channel their intellectual and infrastructural resources for industrial growth and regional and national development. Thus great cities naturally have great universities that contribute to their intellectual, social and cultural vibrancy as well as influence their development. In a knowledge-based global economy, there is even greater synergy between development of a city and that of its universities. Stanford University in California, U.S.A., Punjab University in Punjab, India, Fudan University in Shanghai, China, Chalmers University in Gothenberg, Sweden and the NUS in Singapore are some telling examples in this regard.

Thus the government encourages the universities to contribute to regional and national development. In Sri Lanka, the universities are almost fully funded by the Treasury. In other words, they are maintained by the sweat and toil of the people of the country of whom around 70% are still living in rural areas. But the immense intellectual and infrastructural resource base of the universities has hitherto remained almost untapped or underutilized for regional/national development. Our universities should, in line with new initiatives such as Gama Naguma, Pura Naguma, Divi Naguma etc. under the Mahinda Chintana, mobilize and channel their rich intellectual and infrastructure resources for regional/national development. Thus they could become catalysts and locomotives of regional development.

Moreover, the strategic location, salubrious climate, rich biological and ecological diversity and scenic beauty of Sri Lanka coupled with its high literacy rate and proficiency in English, the high reputation of its universities, and its relatively low cost of education and cost of living make it an attractive destination for higher education.

Nevertheless, the Sri Lankan universities have been developed to cater for the Sri Lankan students. Therefore, to attract foreign students and staff, there should be a step change in the higher educational institutions in Sri Lanka ranging from enhancement of the physical environment (i.e. landscaping and improvement of infrastructure facilities for accommodation, sports and recreation, cafeteria, e-library etc.), revision of curricula to give an international flavour and character (since much of the present curricula has only a national focus), raising the academic climate and intellectual atmosphere, establishment of an institutional structure on international affairs to changes in governance, management and administration in order to make them foreign-students friendly.

In order to strategically lead and effectively manage such systemic changes, institutional leaders of right mindset, attributes and skills are required. It is because of these reasons that as shown above, even countries like Uganda and Rwanda advertise high profile positions in universities in international journals so as to recruit leaders who can fill the bill in a highly competitive globalised environment abounding with opportunities.

New breed of institutional leaders required

The 1998 World Conference on Higher Education (WCHE) reaffirmed that institutions of higher learning, and their leadership, have an unprecedented role to play in today’s society as pillars to endogenous capacity building and sustainable democracy. This reaffirmation was in recognition of the fact that institutions of higher learning are increasingly regarded, and rightly so, as the bedrock upon which nations build a better and solid future.

Dr. Kobena T. Hanson and Dr. Frannie A. Leautier of the African Capacity Building Foundation in their seminal paper titled "Enhancing Institutional Leadership in African Universities" have dealt with this subject in detail. I draw upon it here, given its relevance and value to the Sri Lankan context.

Global developments of the past decade, particularly the shift from an industrial economy to a knowledge economy, have engendered new challenges, opportunities and possibilities for the leadership of higher educational institutions (HEIs). These changes are calling for rethinking and reviewing of the role of higher education, and more specifically a thorough interrogation of the calibre and mandate of the leadership of HEIs. Leaders of HEIs are being increasingly held accountable, among others, for their support to growth and long-term success of dynamic learners (students and employees) and their ability to translate leadership competence into strategic assets.

Simultaneously, the marketplace for higher education is changing fast with the advent of information technologies, the growing demand for knowledge workers, and the rapid globalization of all sectors, both private and public. These developments reflect the shift in the international economy towards a global network organised around the value of knowledge, and the capacity of people and organisations to use technological developments wisely, effectively and efficiently. Therefore, as D.E. Hanna (2003) said, universities are being compelled to transform their structures, missions, processes and programmes in order to be both flexible and responsive to today’s emerging socio-economic and knowledge needs.

Thus universities no longer can afford academic insularity; they should embark upon strategic public-private partnerships and collaborative endeavours at home and abroad. Growing competition faced by universities in the areas of learning and research is compelling many to carve out niches with focus on intergenerational, cross disciplinary and societally-valuable learning and knowledge as well as to rethink their specific role in civil society to transform societies and enhance the transmission of appropriate values.

Therefore our universities must proactively take on the task of fostering institutional leadership so as to translate leadership competence into strategic assets for the development agenda of the nation. Such assets are the key to bolstering intellectual capital and strategic scanning, the capacity, that is, to recognise the behaviour of interconnected systems to make effective decisions under varying strategic and risk scenarios, and the transformation of knowledge as a lever for the achievement of specified societal objectives and goals.

The strategic rethinking of the role of institutional leadership in our universities is thus inevitable. In this regard, the dialogue should be articulated around issues of global competitiveness, knowledge utilisation, the changing geopolitical landscape, and paradigm shifts in the role of the university from one of control and regulation to one of facilitation and flexibility.

Universities being dynamic institutions do not function effectively if its constituent members do not have the right combination of skills, knowledge and attitudes (competencies) and a suitably structured system is in place.

In the context of the aforesaid interactions and complexities, the tools and frameworks that institutional leaders previously used to make decisions now seem inadequate. Sri Lankan universities, therefore, need a cadre of new leaders who possess the requisite leadership skills that empower them to navigate through the complexities and interconnectedness of the knowledge society of the 21st century. The specific skills required as identified by Dr. F. Lautier, Executive Secretary of the African Capacity Building Foundation for African Universities are as follows:

a) ability to function in environments with low predictability;

b) preparedness to handle diverse potential futures;

c) capacity to generate strategic maps of pressure points and risk scenarios;

d) skills, set of values, and behaviours that guide them in making choices in challenging circumstances; and,

e) capacity to identify patterns of change (shifts), extract important relationships

(interactions), and select from a variety of approaches for handling challenges

Given that the nature and complexity of problems affecting the higher education in Africa and South Asia are comparable, the above hold good for Sri Lankan universities as well.

To be continued tomorrow

U’grads to protest against PMC

May 30, 2012, 10:56 pm

by Dasun Edirisinghe, the island

Undergraduates are planning to launch a fresh protest against the Malabe Private Medical College (PMC) together with the Medical Faculty Students’ Action Committee (MFSAC) and the Inter University Students Federation (IUSF).

Addressing a press conference at CSR hall in Maradana, Convener of the MFSAC Nilan Fernando said that they decided to protest collectively as the PMC is a major threat to medical education in Sri Lanka.

"The Mahinda Rajapaksa government allowed the PMC as a pilot project for privatisation of the free education system in the country," he said.

Fernando said that the government was yet to implement the recommendations of the committee which was appointed by the Health Ministry to look into the matters related to the Malabe PMC.

The committee report indicated that the SLMC and Health Ministry were misled by the PMC and they also found that some students who did not have the relevant qualifications at the GCE (A/L) examination were studying medicine at the PMC, he said.

The student unionist claimed that most of lecturers of the PMC were those who had graduated from foreign universities, but they did not pass the Act 16 examination which foreign medical graduates have to pass if they are to practice in Sri Lanka.

"One of them failed the Act 16 examination eight times," Fernando said adding that another one sat for it seven times.

He said they would stop the PMC at any cost.

IUSF Convener Sanjeewa Bandara said that the student movement stopped the North Colombo Private Medical College in the 80s and the then government had to attach it to the Kelaniya University due to student protests.

"Our late students fought against it for seven years," he said adding they had to sacrifice their lives too to protect the free education at that time.

Bandara said that they would not stop their fight against the PMC until it is abolished.

A group of undergraduates opposed to the JVP-led ...

May 30, 2012, 10:57 pm , the island


A group of undergraduates opposed to the JVP-led Inter University Student Federation protest opposite the Fort Railway station on Tuesday (29) demanding immediate government intervention to save undergraduates from JVP

Z-Score case: Examinations Chief, MoE, AG defend ‘pooling’ method

May 30, 2012, 12:00 pm

By Chitra Weerarathne, the island

The Commissioner General of Examinations, the Minister of Education and the Attorney General, in their written submissions, filed in the Supreme Court recently, said that there was no basis in law to treat the students who sat the GCE Advanced Level Examination under the old and new syllabi separately in calculating the Z-score.

The GCE (A/L) examination had been conducted in August 2011 in such a manner as to would give equal opportunities to students, who had sat the examination under the old and new syllabi, the aforesaid respondents said in response to a fundamental rights violation application filed by a group of students.

Meanwhile, the University Grants Commission which has been made a respondent said that the pooling method used to calculate the Z-Score was appropriate and that should be adopted in admitting students to the universities.

Prof. R. O. Thattil of the Peradeniya University has said that the two syllabi should be dealt with separately in calculating the Z-Score.

The petitioner students have moved the Supreme Court against the pooling method requesting the Court to direct the respondents to calculate the Z-Scores separately for the two syllabi.

New breed of institutional leaders for internationalising Lankan Universities

May 29, 2012, 12:00 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

Originally, the Vice Chancellor was the temporary commissary or deputy of the Chancellor. For instance, until 1504, the Statutes of the Cambridge University required its Chancellor to be normally resident in Cambridge, and the Vice Chancellor was appointed as the Chancellor’s deputy, to act only in his absence. Thus it was only from early 16th century that the Vice Chancellor became the chief executive officer of the University.

Thus the role of Vice Chancellor has evolved through the history of the University. The last decade has witnessed major changes in the higher education sector and these new circumstances have, both from a national and international perspective, radically changed the conditions that apply to academic governance - one of most important duties of a Vice Chancellor. Therefore we can expect the role of Vice Chancellor will continue to change in view of the challenges facing higher education, both nationally and internationally. For this reason, Vice Chancellors are treated differently from all the other heads of public agencies, as reflected for instance in the totally different procedures that apply to the appointment of Vice Chancellors as compared with other senior public administrators.

Higher education in a state of flux

Traditionally teaching and research have been the main missions of a university. This has changed gradually with the emergence of disciplines such as biotechnology, industry-sponsored academic research, increased globalisation, reduced basic funding and the new perspectives of the role of university in the system of knowledge production. As knowledge becomes an increasingly important part of innovation and industrial development, the university as a knowledge-producing and disseminating institution plays an increasing role in industrial innovation. Thus, in a knowledge-based economy, the university becomes a key player in the innovation system both as a human capital provider and a seed-bed of new firms. For instance, a study conducted in 1997 revealed that if the companies founded by the graduates and staff of the MIT, USA through commercialisation of knowledge formed an independent nation, their revenue would make them 24th largest economy in the world with an annual sale of US $ 233 billion, which is more than twice the GDP of Singapore

In today’s global landscape of relentless change and innovation, the mission of universities has thus become multi-faceted and the university must see itself as part of the larger global enterprise of creating, imparting, applying and commercialising knowledge. Research universities around the world are increasingly embracing an entrepreneurial dimension. They emphasise the natural complimentarity between creating, imparting and applying knowledge and the subsequent creation of spin-off companies and production of licenses and patents. Therefore to stay relevant and succeed, universities in the 21st century should play three roles, deliver quality undergraduate and postgraduate education, conduct high impact research and foster entrepreneurship and industry involvement.

As scientific knowledge and commercialisation of research results ("entrepreneurial science") are becoming increasingly important for innovation and new business development, universities can play an enhanced role in innovation. Hence, universities in the world that were policy makers earlier are now playing a direct role as actors in regional and national development. For instance, Oulu University in Finland through its entrepreneurial activities brought about considerable industrial growth and economic development in the region, which is now globally known as "Oulu Phenomenon".

Lessens to learn from successful

universities

A look at the global situation will show that some of the highly prestigious as well as rapidly developing universities in the world have broken from tradition and are bringing new perspectives and vision to universities by installing those with experience in industry and world of work as Vice Chancellors. For instance, Harvard University of the USA, a most prestigious university in the world, appointed Larry Summers, former US Secretary to the Treasury as President. Some years ago, Cambridge University inducted Alec Broers, an Australian research engineer from IBM New York as its first Vice Chancellor from outside Britain while Oxford University in 2004 appointed as Vice Chancellor John Hood, a consultant Engineer and former Vice Chancellor of Auckland University, New Zealand. In earlier times, such a decision was simply unthinkable in the two most prestigious universities in Britain with strong traditions and values peculiar to them. Thus Oxford and Cambridge are fishing and competing in the global market place for talents and ideas. They have made the watershed decision to search globally for their academic leaders.

Prof. Shih Choon Fong, the former President of the NUS had worked at General Electrical Company in USA for seven years before joining the NUS. He made the NUS a top-notch university, ranking within the top five in Asia and Australia. In Japan, an increasing number of universities now have high level administrators who have been recruited from industrial research positions. There are many more such examples in the higher education landscape of the world, which show how the universities have responded to change and recognised the importance of having a leader with a deep understanding of the complexity and challenges of higher education as well as possessing financial, commercial and entrepreneurial skills

Even developing countries like Bangladesh, Pakistan, Vietnam, Mauritius, Rwanda and Uganda are now ‘fishing in global waters’ to attract the best leader to take their universities to greater heights. They advertise vacancies of high profile posts such as Vice Chancellor, Deputy Vice Chancellor, and Dean in international magazines such as the Economist, the Times Higher Education Supplement and Time to recruit institutional leaders of international calibre so as to elevate the standing and stature of their national universities.

Relevance to the Sri Lankan context

In Sri Lanka, there are 15 universities and 7 postgraduate institutes under the jurisdiction of the UGC, with at least one university located in each province. Most of these universities have well stocked libraries and well equipped laboratories with good ICT infrastructure. They have a total academic strength of over 4500, including around 500 Professors and 1750 Senior Lecturers with PhDs or equivalent qualifications and nearly another 2,000 with Masters’ degrees; and there are over 60,000 undergraduates and over 4,000 post-graduate students in our universities pursuing studies in a multitude of faculties including Engineering, Medicine, Dentistry, Veterinary Science, Natural Science, Agriculture, Humanities, Social Sciences, Management, and Law. Thus an outstandingly rich and diverse intellectual and infrastructural resource base is available in the universities in Sri Lanka, which is maintained at a cost exceeding Rs 20 billion (20,000 million) annually.

The Government of Sri Lanka has placed a great deal of emphasis in improving the world ranking of its universities and making Sri Lanka an educational hub in the region. In this connection, several initiatives have been made including increased funding for six selected universities and offering of 100 scholarships to foreign students.

Continued tomorrow

University academics announce all-out strike from July 04

May 29, 2012, 12:00 pm

by Dasun Edirisinghe, the island

University lecturers decided yesterday to launch an all out strike from July 04 if the Higher Education Ministry does not resolve their grievances and grant them a salary hike.

They also decided to vacate from all the services provided by them to the Education Ministry until their children are admitted to popular schools.

President of the Federation of University Teachers’ Associations Dr. Nirmal Ranjith Devasiri told The Island that they took the decision at the FUTA executive committee meeting held at the Colombo University.

He said that the Higher Education Ministry took them for a ride with promises but none of their demands had been met so far.

Dr. Devasiri said that they informed their demands to the Ministry several times and President Mahinda Rajapaksa too broke his promise to grant them a pay hike through the budget 2012.

"We asked that 6 per cent of the GDP be allocated to the education sector and government agreed to it," he said adding that so far the government had not taken any positive step to do so.

The senior academic said that they asked the higher education ministry to consult them when taking action regarding the higher education system, especially amending and drafting new Acts. "The ministry agreed, but they have not consulted us on any matter,"he said adding that the higher education minister repeatedly had said at public meetings that they would go forward and establish private universities but they did not consult university lecturers on that matter either.

If there was no positive response from the ministry before July 04 they would launch a continuous strike, he said.

The latest issue, he said, was the refusal of the Education Ministry to admit their children to popular schools violating the previous quota for university teachers.

"When our members went to the Education Ministry to discuss the matter, the education secretary summoned the police," Dr. Devasiri said.

He said that finally the education secretary alleged that university lecturers threatened him with death and UGC Chairman called for a report on a lecturer attached to the Sri Jayewardenepura University.

Until such harassments were stopped, university teachers would keep away from services to the Education Ministry including paper marking, Dr. Devasiri said adding FUTA executive committee endorsed all the decisions at yesterday’s meeting.

The Cartoon of the Day, The Island

UGC chief denies resignation bid, calls for national dialogue on higher education

May 27, 2012, 11:23 pm

by Dasun Edirisinghe,the island

Chairman of the University Grants Commission, Prof. Gamini Samaranayake said yesterday that Sri Lanka needed a thorough dialogue on higher education as much focus was given only to the preliminary and secondary education at present.

Denying rumors that the UGC Chairman had tendered his resignation, Prof. Samaranayake said that some sections of the higher education sector wanted his resignation.

He said that a dialogue on higher education system should be held with the participation of all stakeholders.

"We will have to give much focus to university education," Prof. Samaranayake said.

He said Sri Lanka’s Gross Enrollment Ratio (GER) – the youth between 18 and 24 years receiving higher education was 15%. It was 18% in India.

The UGC was planning to increase the GER to 20% and 30% by 2016 and 2020 respectively, Prof. Samaranayake said.

He said that action would be taken to develop the external degree programme with a view to increasing the GER.

"Some retrograde forces want to derail these programmes to achieve their political objectives," Prof. Samaranayake said, adding that they were responsible for spreading those rumours that he had resigned.