Lanka SA’s first in higher education according to career guidance

Sri Lanka has been ranked number one in South Asia for providing graduate education according to career guidance.

This was revealed at a meeting between City Planning, Water Supply and Higher Education Minister Rauff Hakeem and a delegation of the Sri Lanka wing of the World Bank, held at the minister’s office in Parliament, on Wednesday.

The meeting was held to explore ways and means of enhancing cooperation in the field of higher education. It was attended by Harsha Aturupane, World Bank’s Lead Economist and Program Leader for Human Development for Sri Lanka and the Maldives, Secretary to the Higher Education Ministry Priyantha Mayadunne, University Grants Commission Chairman Prof. Mohan De Silva and SLIATE Director General Prof. K. D. M. Udayanga Hemathilake.

The topics taken up for discussions included, streamlining higher education programmes in keeping with the economic development of the country, producing graduates according to the needs of the labour market and initiating research and innovative programmes to prepare graduates to fit into society.

Bringing the standard of education of private higher educational institutes to the level of government universities was also discussed during the talks.

Aturupane detailed the programmes undertaken by the World Bank in helping higher education programmes in faculties such as Science, Medicine and Engineering and Technical Education in universities and colleges.

Regarding the World Bank’s assistance with technical education, Aturupane explained how the bank could attract resource personnel with attractive perks to develop technical education in the island.

The participants also discussed the importance of setting up recreational parks in the vicinity of universities and technical colleges throughout the island.