‘All pervasive: Politicization in our universities,’ says former UGC chairman
By Namini Wijedasa
The Friday Forum, a group of concerned citizens comprising some of Sri Lanka's most distinguished professionals, recently issued a strong statement decrying the deterioration of the education sector. One of its most active members, Prof. Arjuna Aluwihare last week warned that the politicization of universities had reached unacceptable levels. A former chairman of the University Grants Commission, Aluwihare also supported the demand of the Federation of University Teachers' Associations for increased government spending on education. Excerpts from the interview:
When do you think the deterioration of the university system started, and how?
Some faculties show less decline; for instance the medical, dental, veterinary and engineering faculties. Elsewhere, the decline is related to numbers of students going up, less resources being put in, salaries being relatively less and also, maybe, increasing politicization. The decline started to happen in the mid 1990s. The number of universities also increased without a corresponding increase in resources. Meanwhile, the importance of English, of independent reading and information technology has not been emphasized in keeping with the changing situation in the world at large. There is increasing isolation of especially the arts and maybe and management and general science faculties from related activity in the country and the world. It is very important to have industrial or equivalent placement in all disciplines, even in related, relatively menial tasks, to inculcate work discipline and ethic, and an understanding of how what is taught relates to the outside world
How would you describe the quality of our university education before the decline?
It was fairly good in the ‘practical faculties’– medical, dental, veterinary, engineering, law, special science and some arts.
So how would you summarize the main problems facing our university system of education?
University education is seen and felt to be politicized more than ever before. Resources are short. When you take the quality of teaching, too much of it is ‘rote’ with not enough world-at-large input. There is insufficient industry placement. The output is not enough, given the A/Level pass numbers. Employability is poor of science, arts and management students. This could be related to not having enough English language or IT skills, of being isolated from the world, and of not having the right work ethic.
By Namini Wijedasa
Sunday 26 August 2012
The Friday Forum, a group of concerned citizens comprising some of Sri Lanka's most distinguished professionals, recently issued a strong statement decrying the deterioration of the education sector. One of its most active members, Prof. Arjuna Aluwihare last week warned that the politicization of universities had reached unacceptable levels. A former chairman of the University Grants Commission, Aluwihare also supported the demand of the Federation of University Teachers' Associations for increased government spending on education. Excerpts from the interview:When do you think the deterioration of the university system started, and how?
Some faculties show less decline; for instance the medical, dental, veterinary and engineering faculties. Elsewhere, the decline is related to numbers of students going up, less resources being put in, salaries being relatively less and also, maybe, increasing politicization. The decline started to happen in the mid 1990s. The number of universities also increased without a corresponding increase in resources. Meanwhile, the importance of English, of independent reading and information technology has not been emphasized in keeping with the changing situation in the world at large. There is increasing isolation of especially the arts and maybe and management and general science faculties from related activity in the country and the world. It is very important to have industrial or equivalent placement in all disciplines, even in related, relatively menial tasks, to inculcate work discipline and ethic, and an understanding of how what is taught relates to the outside world
How would you describe the quality of our university education before the decline?
It was fairly good in the ‘practical faculties’– medical, dental, veterinary, engineering, law, special science and some arts.
So how would you summarize the main problems facing our university system of education?
University education is seen and felt to be politicized more than ever before. Resources are short. When you take the quality of teaching, too much of it is ‘rote’ with not enough world-at-large input. There is insufficient industry placement. The output is not enough, given the A/Level pass numbers. Employability is poor of science, arts and management students. This could be related to not having enough English language or IT skills, of being isolated from the world, and of not having the right work ethic.
