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| Thursday, 15 July 2004 |
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Aquinas completes fifty years Aquinas College of Higher Studies was established by His Eminence Thomas Cardinal Cooray in 1954 with the assistance of Very Rev. Fr. Peter A. Pillai, an internationally reputed scholar and social worker. The college is registered with the Tertiary and Vocational Education Commission of Sri Lanka. The college is also affiliated to the International Federation of Catholic University in Paris. The campus provides beautiful and peaceful environment conducive to educational activities. The presence of students from many diverse backgrounds and nationalities provides a cosmopolitan community, creating an exposure to numerous cultures as we have students from SAARC countries and from various ethnic groups. We are indeed proud to have a considerable number of Buddhist monks and students of all religions and ethnic communities among its student population of over five thousand. Many students have passed through Aquinas and obtained London University Degrees, I myself followed the evening classes at Aquinas and am deeply grateful for the opportunity afforded to me by Aquinas to obtain a degree. I was selected to the Ceylon Civil Service in 1959 and owe a debt of gratitude to Acquinas for I would not have obtained a degree otherwise since I was in full time employment to support my hard pressed family. My school did not have University Entrance Classes. I had obtained a first division pass with exemption from the London Matriculation Examination and was prepared for the London G.C.E. (Advanced Level) Examination privately when Aquinas opened. I could not participate in the day-to-day life at the college although there were full day classes for the degrees in Science & Arts of the University of London. I am grateful to Aquinas for the opportunity to graduate. There were eminent teachers who had left the University of Peradeniya to join Aquinas and make it a good institution of higher learning. They were all dedicated men and women who shared in the vision of Father Peter Pillai to make Aquinas a fully fledged university in due course. Alas that was not to be. There were those who thought that education should be only in the national languages and that the state should have a monopoly of education so that what they called a "national education policy" could be implemented. They used public pressure to take over the denominational schools. They also opposed English education and demanded that the examinations conducted locally by the University of London should be done away with. So Aquinas found that the demand for its educational facilities was over. Far from lamenting Aquinas sought to adjust itself to the transformation. A priestly scholar in Sinhalese took over as Rector and he sought to transform the ethos in keeping with the social changes taking place in the country. Aquinas registered itself as a recognised institution to prepare students for the external examinations of the local universities which were teaching in the national languages. It has been doing so for the last few years. But the local universities have not been too keen on the external students. So Aquinas also began preparing students for the professional examinations such as the Chartered Institute of Marketing. It also developed the Diploma in Agriculture which soon became popular since there were job opportunities to those who qualified as the Diploma was recognised by the Government. Aquinas also started courses in Information Technology, which too have attracted the students. The question of awarding a diploma or a certificate from a recognised institution in Information Technology is a problem which has dogged Aquinas. Above all Aquinas has become a popular centre for courses in the English language with the resurgence of interest in learning English. It did not have the problem of dearth of quality teachers of English. Qualified teachers well acquainted with the English language and literature conduct the course. Last year Aquinas put up a new building as part of the Jubilee celebrations marking the fifty year jubilee of the college. The founder Fr. Peter Pillai was remembered in a special way throughout the year with special guest lectures, seminars and so on. There were also the annual Aquinas Walk and the Dinner Dance. The Alumni Society is trying hard to develop the former traditions and restore Aquinas to its former place in the educational sphere. Recently Aquinas together with an Australian collaborator involved in higher education set up the Aquinas South Asian Regional Institute of Management. This institute will open up opportunities for higher education for our students at an affordable cost. Courses will be started to prepare students for the degrees awarded by the University of London such as the B.Sc (Econ), Accounting & Finance, B.Sc Management. It is planned to commence these courses from September this year. The organisers plan to market these courses not only in Sri Lanka but also throughout South and South East Asia. Aquinas now has the physical infrastructure to conduct these courses and will soon build up the teaching staff and the other facilities for an institution of this nature. There seems to be political space once again for an institution like Aquinas of the fifties and sixties with its perspectives on an English language university education founded on moral values. Aquinas calls upon its alumni to rally round the college once again to participate in reviving its past glory. The annual get-together of the alumni will take place on July 24th at 7.00 p.m. in the college hall to which all are welcomed. (A past pupil) |
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