Monday, October 31, 2011

Sri Lanka University News: Non-academic Strike in Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka University News: Non-academic Strike in Sri Lanka: Non-academic staffs of the universities of Sri Lanka have decided to launch a islandwide strike from November 02. Jayalath Muththettuwegeda...

Non-academic Strike in Sri Lanka

Non-academic staffs of the universities of Sri Lanka have decided to launch a islandwide strike from November 02.
Jayalath Muththettuwegedara told that Sri Lanka government recently increased the salaries of the academic staff of the universities and the salary anomalies of the non-academic staff were not yet increased.

After the Sri Lankan government agreed to grant university lecturer's pay demands. Sri Lanka University Executive Officers' Association and the Inter University Federation of University Non-academic Staff are in discussions now to initiate a joint trade union action demanding salary increases similar to the salary increase university academics received.

The Chairman of the University Executive Officers' Association Jayalath Muttettuwegedara says that the University Grants Commission, the Minister of Higher Education and the President have been informed of their demands.

The official argued that all non-academic staffs of the universities should also be granted the salary increases in same percentages. He urged the authorities to rectify the salary anomalies in line with the circular number 879 of the University Grants Commission.

Monday, October 3, 2011

Sri Lanka University News: Academic activities Begin for freshers-Sri Lanka U...

Sri Lanka University News: Academic activities Begin for freshers-Sri Lanka U...: By: Dinesh De Alwis Academic activities of new university entrants would be commenced on October 3. Higher Education Ministry has planned...

Academic activities Begin for freshers-Sri Lanka University

By: Dinesh De Alwis

Academic activities of new university entrants would be commenced on October 3. Higher Education Ministry has planned to admit all the students within first and second week of October except Kelaniya University. Academic activities of Kelaniya University would commence on November 15 Director General (Student Affairs) Keerthi Mawellage told the SLUN.

About 22,000 students would be admitted to 15 local Universities for the 2010/2011 academic year. Among students who are selected around 16,000 are following Science courses while 6,000 are following Arts courses.

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

New Chancellor at Eastern University -Sri Lanka

Professor Yoga Rasanayagam, Emeritus Professor of the University of Colombo, has been appointed Eastern University of Sri Lanka Chancellor for five years by President Mahinda Rajapaksa.



Professor Rasanayagam

Professor Rasanayagam is the first Tamil woman to be bestowed the post of Chancellor of a Sri Lankan university in the country's university system.

Professor Rasanayagam was also the first woman Dean of the Faculty of Arts at the University of Colombo. She also functioned as the Vice-Chancellor of the same university on several occasions. Professor Rasanayagam is a past student of Hindu Ladies College, Colombo and Methodist College, Colombo 3.

Professor Rasanayagam is an accomplished artist in the field of Carnatic music. She is an accomplished vocalist and veena player who qualified as a radio artist in the mid 50s to perform regularly broadcasting vocal and veena performances over the radio. When she was an undergraduate in the University of Peradeniya Prof Ediriweera Sarathchandra hand picked her to play the veena at the debut performance of his famous 'Sinhabahu' ballet. Rasnayagam continues to keep in touch with the field of music. Courtesy: www.dailynews.lk

Saturday, September 10, 2011

Sri Lanka University News: "Kavithaa Program" to improve undergrads' skills -...

Sri Lanka University News: "Kavithaa Program" to improve undergrads' skills -...: A special programme to assess and improve university students' skills and talents will be launched by the Higher Education Ministry from Sep...

"Kavithaa Program" to improve undergrads' skills - Sri Lanka University



A special programme to assess and improve university students' skills and talents will be launched by the Higher Education Ministry from September end.The programme named Kavithaa will consist of competitions among university students, ministry secretary Dr Sunil Jayantha told the Daily News.
Under the Kavithaa programme, aesthetic competitions including singing, dancing, poetry, song and essay writing and debates will be held, Dr Jayantha said.The programme has been coordinated by Prof Sunil Ariyaratne. Winners will receive Presidential awards.

The objective of the Kavithaa programme is to develop a platform for undergraduates to unleash their potentials, he said.

He said that this will be a good opportunity for students to present their hidden skills and showcase their talents.

"The electronic and print media mostly cover crisis, fights and problems of universities.

They rarely reveal the students' talents. Through this programme, ministry hopes to give wide publicity for students' artistic activities," Dr Jayantha said.
Courtesy :
www.dailynews.lk

Wednesday, September 7, 2011

Sri Lankan university Non-academic staff in action after Dons

Non-academic staff of the Sri Lanka universities is planning to launch a protest campaign over their salary anomalies.
Inter University Non Academic Employees' Union and the University Executive Officers' Association will participate in the protest.Meanwhile Secretary to Minister of Higher Education said that immediate meeting would be call for solve this problem.

Sri Lankan doctors postponed strike against Private Medical College

Sri Lankan doctors have decided to postponed the scheduled strike. Postponed strike is against the Higher Education Ministry's decision over controversial Private Medical College in Malabe. However Government Medical Officers' Association says that they would take strong action if relevant authorities not concern about this issue within a week time.

The scheduled strike action by the Sri Lankan Government Doctors has been temporally called off after a discussion with the Health Minister. Health Minister has agreed to appoint a five member committee to investigate about this issue.

Sunday, September 4, 2011

Sri Lanka University News: SRI LANKA: Six Universities to be upgraded into In...

Sri Lanka University News: SRI LANKA: Six Universities to be upgraded into In...: Article Extract From University World News Sri Lanka's Higher Education Ministry last week announced the launch of a special programme to u...

SRI LANKA: Six Universities to be upgraded into International Level

Article Extract From University World News




Sri Lanka's Higher Education Ministry last week announced the launch of a special programme to upgrade six local universities, allocating some US$6 million to improving teaching, research and infrastructure to 'international' levels within the next few years. The universities to be upgraded as are Colombo, Peradeniya, Moratuwa, Kelaniya, Ruhuna and Sri Jayewardenepura.

The government's objective is for them to become among the top 1,000 universities in the world, as part of Sri Lanka's aim to become a knowledge hub for Asia. At the moment Sri Lankan universities are do not appear in global university rankings, said Sunil Jayantha Navaratne, Secretary of the Higher Education Ministry.

Navaratne said US$1 million would be allocated to each university to improve infrastructure and courses. A number of programmes would be restructured, training for lecturers provided, and international and industry research collaborations boosted.
Click Here for Full Article

Friday, September 2, 2011

Sri Lankan Universites to be Upgraded as International Standard










Spending 600 Million Rupees Sri Lankan Higher Education Ministry has launched a special program to upgrade six local universities to international level. The universities that are to be upgraded as international universities are Colombo, Peradeniya, Moratuwa, Kelaniya,Ruhuna and Sri Jayewardenepura. The major objective is to be the knowledge hub of Asia and to be within the best 1,000 universities in the world.Sri Lankan government has allocated 100 million for each six university. Currently Sri Lankan universities are not listed in the best 2,000 universities.

Webometrics, QS World University Ranking and Times Higher Education ranking are the three well known university rankings in the world.
According to the Webometrics ranking, Peradeniya University is ranked at 2,220, Colombo University at 2,240, Moratuwa at 2,573, Ruhuna at 3,514, Sri Jayawardenapura at 6,382 and Kelaniya at 6,594.

Wednesday, August 10, 2011

Japura University Students surrounded VC

JAPURA VC Vice Chancellor N.L.A. Karunaratna
Students of the Sri Jayawardenepura University,Sri Lanka have reportedly surrounded Vice Chancellor N.L.A. Karunaratnas office building short while ago. Group of students have surrounded the administrative building following an announcement made by VC that he will not be issuing Mahapola scholarships.
About 700 students of Sri Jayawardenapura University held the Vice Chancellor N.L.A.Karunaratne under house arrest. Inter-university Students’ Union Convener Sanjeewa Bandara said that the VC has decided to halt Mahapola scholarship payments.

Foreign University Bill in House soon-Sri Lanka

By: Dinesh De Alwis              Courtesy: Daily News

The much anticipated, Foreign University Bill would be presented to Parliament within the next two months after going through the Legal Draftsman.
Cabinet has sanctioned the Bill and it has been sent to the Legal Draftsman, Higher Education Ministry Secretary Dr. Sunil Jayantha Navaratne told the Daily News. "Legal drafts and translation of the Bill are currently under preparation and would be shortly presented to Parliament", he said.
The new Bill which regulates and monitors foreign universities has been titled "Quality Assurance, Accreditation and Qualification Framework Bill".
He further said that up to now the ministry has received applications from 10 universities expressing their interest to set up foreign universities in Sri Lanka.
Universities from USA, Japan, UK, Russia, China, India and Australia have shown a keen interest in setting up Medical, IT, Engineering and Management Universities in Sri Lanka.
Several institutions are already under construction and these universities will launch their academic activities once the Bill is passed.
Those universities are planning to set up universities in areas such as Colombo, Kandy, Jaffna and Puttalam he said.
Every year, around 10,000 students from Sri Lanka migrate to foreign countries spending over 12 billion.
The ministry has taken measures to offer local students 20 percent of the slots in those foreign universities.

Wednesday, August 3, 2011

Solution for University non-academic staff-Sri Lanka

Sri Lankan Higher Education Minister S B Dissanayake has promised to submit a Cabinet memorandum seeking approval for the payment of 50 percent of salary arrears announced for non-academic staff of universities by the Circular No 888. The minister gave this assurance at a meeting with SLFP trade union leaders held at the ministry recently.

Director General of the Higher Education Ministry Keerthi Mawallage and other officials were also present.
The Minister directed the Chairman of the Salaries and Cadre Committee to study the report on anomalies in the new salary structure submitted by the UGC and promised to implement the recommendations on it made by the Salaries and Cadre Committee.

Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Missed lectures complete Soon-Sri Lanka University...

Sri Lanka University News: Missed lectures complete Soon-Sri Lanka University...: "Additional lectures will be held to cover up the missed lectures for Sri Lankan University Students addressing a media briefing the Chairman..."

Letters are being mailed to the students who have been qualified for university admission in the 2010/11 academic year.

The University Grants Commission says the students qualified for admission to the universities in the 2010/11 academic year will receive the relevant letters through the mail. Additional secretary on University admission of the commission Dr. Priyantha Premakumara says all the letters will be posted within this month. 90 percent of the letters have already been mailed. The letters contain details on the university selected, the courses to be followed and the date of registration.

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Sri Jayewardenepura University invites applications for the post of Vice-Chancellor

Sri Jayewardenepura University,Sri Lanka invites applications for the post of Vice-Chancellor.
Invitaion for Applications/ Nominations for the Post of Vice Chancellor
01 July 2011

The Council of the University of Sri Jayewardenepura acting in terms of Section 34 of the Universities Act No 16 of 1978 and subsequent amendments, invites applications or nominations for the post of Vice-Chancellor .

1978 අංක 16 දරණ විශ්වවිද්‍යාල පනතේ 34 වන වගන්තයේ සහ එහි තදනන්තර සංශෝධනවල නියමයන් ප‍්‍රකාරව, ශ‍්‍රී ජයවර්ධනපුර විශ්වවිද්‍යාලයේ පාලක සභාව විසින් උපකුලපති තනතුර සඳහා අයදුම්පත් හා නාමයෝජනා කැඳවනු ලැබේ.

Missed lectures complete Soon-Sri Lanka University Lectureres

Additional lectures will be held to cover up the missed lectures for Sri Lankan University Students addressing a media briefing the Chairman of the Federation of University Teachers’ Association(FUTA) Dr. Nirmal Ranjith Devasiri said.
Dr. Nirmal Ranjith Devasiri also said that the lecturers have already conveyed their willingness to hold additional lectures. However, the cooperation of Vice Chancellors and Deans are also needed in this regard.
FUTA who called off their work stoppage,said that they will give maximum support the initiative taken by Ministry of Higher Education and the University Grants Commission to commence the next academic year of universities from the month of October.

Saturday, July 23, 2011

Sri Lanka University News: Sri Lanka Non-academic university staff demands sa...

Sri Lanka University News: Sri Lanka Non-academic university staff demands sa...: "After the Sri Lankan government agreed to grant university lecturer's pay demands,Sri Lanka University Executive Officers' Association and ..."

Sri Lanka Non-academic university staff demands salary increase

After the Sri Lankan government agreed to grant university lecturer's pay demands. Sri Lanka University Executive Officers' Association and the Inter University Federation of University Non-academic Staff are in discussions now to initiate a joint trade union action demanding salary increases similar to the salary increase university academics received.

The Chairman of the University Executive Officers' Association Jayalath Muttettuwegedara says that the University Grants Commission, the Minister of Higher Education and the President have been informed of their demands.

The official argued that all non-academic staffs of the universities should also be granted the salary increases in same percentages. He urged the authorities to rectify the salary anomalies in line with the circular number 879 of the University Grants Commission.

Friday, July 22, 2011

Sri Lanka University Teachers Suspend Trade Union Action

Sri Lanka University Teachers decided to suspend their trade union action that was lasting for two months. Sri Lanka Federation of University Teachers' Associations (FUTA) announced that the government had agreed to grant an interim solution to the salary issue of the university academics.

The Association met with government's officials to discuss their demands. The government had accepted two points of the three-point set of proposals and the FUTA decided to suspend the trade union action in response to the government's decision.

The FUTA had proposed that the salary of a senior professor be increased from 57,000 to 120,000 rupees and the salary of a junior lecturer from 27,000 to 70,000 rupees.

Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Special English, IT and Soft Skills programme (POP) for University Students

Special English, IT and Soft Skills development programme would be commence from today (July 20) for new university entrants. The Program has named The Pre-orientation Programme(POP) and will be held at 300 Centers islandwid. Higher Education Ministry has planned to launch the course district levels and students can join the nearest center.

The programme will be held in two phases and the pre-examination session are now online. The examination will be held till July 29 for the second batch. More information can be obtained after accessing www.pop.nodes.lk website.

The objective of the program is to help university students to enhance English language proficiency and IT before entering in to the university.

Laptops for Sri Lankan University entrants

Dinesh DE ALWIS

The Higher Education Ministry will provide laptops to all new university entrants from this academic year. The proposed programme will be launched from next month, Higher Education Ministry secretary Dr. Sunil Jayantha told the SLUN.

“A laptop with internet facilities will be provided at a concessionary rate or under a special loan. Students can pay back the loan after they have completed their degree or while doing a job. All commercial banks have agreed to provide loan facilities to students,” he said.

Tuesday, July 19, 2011

English, IT course for Sri Lankan University Entrants

The Higher Education Ministry will launch a special English and IT course for new university entrants on July 20. The new programme has named "Pre-Orientation Programme"(POP) and it  will be held at 300 centres islandwide.
The ministry has planned to launch the course at district level and students can join the nearest centre, Higher Education Ministry Secretary Dr Sunil Jayantha Navaratne said.
The course has been designed and coordinated by the Colombo University, Kelaniya University, Presidential Programme Unit(PPU) and British Council. Professors, lecturers, teachers andinstructors will conduct the English course.


“The course is scheduled to conclude in September after which an examination will be held and students ranked. This10,000 students who are weak in English will be selected and given American scholarships,” Dr Navaratne said.
The programme’s objective is to help university students enhance their English language proficiency and IT before entering university.

External degree awarding institutes to be registered

The Higher Education Ministry has decided to register all External Degree awarding institutes soon. The ministry will select the appropriate institutes and register them as government universities' affiliated institutes.
The objective is to maintain the standard and the quality of the external degrees, said Higher Education Minister S.B. Dissanayake yesterday. He was addressing a gathering at Panideniya Pirivena, Peradeniya. "External degree awarding institutes are mushrooming around the country without any standard.
This has affected the quality of education. Ministry will affiliate external degree awarding institutes with government universities," he said.
The minister said that the current external degree system is obsolete. Hence, external degree holders haven't proper recognition.

Thursday, June 2, 2011

22,000 Students admit to Sri Lankan Universities

By: Dinesh De Alwis

A total of 20,274 students would be admitted to Sri Lankan Universities for the next academic year scheduled to start by October this year. Under the Additional and Special  intake another 2000 students will be admitted to the university system. Among students who are selected around 16,000 are those following Science courses while only 6,000 are following Arts courses. The cut off marks for university admission based on the Advanced Level (A/L) examination held in 2010 was released by Higher Education Minister S.B. Dissanayake.

Only 21,111 students were selected to Universities last year while it was 20,270 students in year 2009. Ministry hopes that the intake would about 25,000 from next year.

All Universities will admit students for 2010/2011 academic year on the same day in October this year. Before entering in to the universities every student should follow a three months compulsory full time Special English and IT course. The course will commence after the Leadership Training Program was over Minister S.B. Dissanayake said.

Meanwhile Higher Education Minister speaking in Parliament said that throughout the last year 80% of ragging was curbed due to the strict measures taken and it will be eradicate very soon.