Rs. 2 billion should be obtained from lecturers who went abroad for study purposes and have not returned, it was revealed during a Committee on Public Enterprises (COPE) meeting held recently.
The University Grants Commission (UGC) was summoned before the COPE which met on April 28 under the Chairmanship of MP Ranjith Bandara to discuss many issues related to the university system and higher education in Sri Lanka.
The discussion took place on the basis of 10 points which were brought to the attention of COPE and the COPE made several recommendations to the UGC regarding reforms in the higher education sector.
During the discussion held regarding the lecturers who did not return after leaving the country to pursue further education abroad, the Committee members said that they should take action to recover this amount from the relevant guarantors.
It was revealed that only 84 of the 617 lecturers who went abroad have made the relevant payments so far. Accordingly, the Committee recommended that COPE be informed about the measures taken in this regard within a month.
It was also disclosed that a software engineering degree course has been introduced by the Open University at a cost of Rs.90,000 per year. While stating that usually in a private university such a degree costs Rs. 2-3 million, the UGC Chairman pointed out that this degree can be completed for less than Rs.300,000.
Accordingly, the Committee members advised the Commission to take steps to inform the people about this through the district coordination committees.
