Education in Sri Lanka - Tertiary Education

Tertiary Education

Undergraduate education in State Universities is also free but extremely limited. However fewer than 16% (less than 16,000 students) of those who qualify get admission to State Universities and of that only half graduate. Admission to the university system is based on the highly competitive GCE Advanced Level examination. So, only the top students from urban district get the chances of having tertiary education. Children from remote districts can get in with lower marks. As a result, many students who are not granted admission are forced to find other means of higher education. Around 8% those qualified for higher education go abroad to pursue their studies in foreign universities, others enroll themselves at the Open University of Sri Lanka or at the few state-owned autonomous degree awarding institutes (such as the SLIIT, ITS) or study as external students of traditional universities or at private institutes (such as the IIT) that conduct classes and exams on behalf of foreign universities (such as the ULEP). Some study for entrance/membership for professional bodies both foreign (such as CIMA, BCS, ACCA, etc.) and local (such as ICASL, SLIM) or do vocational studies at vocational technical colleges which specialize in mechanical and electronic subjects. But the majority give up any hope for higher education due the inability to fund their studies since no financial support is given by the government other than to those qualified to get admission to the State Universities.

There is significant number of unemployed graduates in Sri Lanka at present, except in the fields of medicine, information technology, commerce, law and a few engineering disciplines; many state university graduates are unemployed as there is no demand both within and out side the country for the degrees they have done. Due to these reasons, many intellectuals often express the need for Private Universities in the country, where students could study in their home country at a lower cost. The North Colombo Medical College (NCMC) was one such institute, prior to its nationalization, it produced some of the best doctors in Sri Lanka. But efforts to establish private universities have been blocked due to protests from state universities' undergraduate students and leftist political parties. In recent years this has become a reason for students to prefer going abroad or study at other institutes and professional bodies, instead of entering state universities even though they are accepted by them.

There are currently only 15 state universities in Sri Lanka. The prominent ones are University of Colombo, University of Peradeniya, University of Ruhuna, University of Kelaniya, University of Sri Jayawardhenapura and University of Moratuwa. In recent years with changes to the University Act a few institutes have been given permission to grant their own degrees, the most prominent is the government owned Sri Lanka Institute of Information Technology.

For a complete list, see : Sri Lankan universities

Classification of tertiary qualifications

• Certificate - 1 year or less than 1 year of study.
• Diploma - 1–2 years of study.
• Bachelors degree
  • General degree - 3 years of coursework without a major.
  • Honours/Special degree - 4 years of coursework & research with a major/specialization in a particular field.
• Masters degree - which are undertaken after the completion of one or more Bachelors degrees. Masters degrees deal with a subject at a more advanced level than Bachelors degrees, and can consist either of research, coursework, or a mixture of the two.
• Doctorate - most famously Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), which are undertaken after an Honours Bachelors or Masters degree, by an original research project resulting in a thesis or dissertation.