• No discussions on accommodating local students sitting foreign exams
• Approx. 5% of students are foreign

The mass resignation of academic staff at universities has made retaining foreign students challenging while also preventing the recruitment of more students, education trade unions allege.

“Many university staff have resigned due to factors such as poor salaries and several of them have moved on to private universities,” Secretary and Media Spokesperson of the Federation of University Teachers Association (FUTA), Senior Lecturer Charudaththe Illangasinghe, told The Daily Morning yesterday (17), adding that “This has led to several universities lacking teaching staff to accommodate more foreign students.”

Illangasinghe said that at present, approximately five percent of the total student population is foreign students. However, retaining this amount has proven to be challenging and expanding the amount of foreign students would be difficult due to lack of academic staff.

When asked whether there have been considerations to admit Sri Lankan students who are doing foreign exams, Illangasinghe said that there have been no such discussions however as these students are being admitted to masters and PhD programmes, there may be a possibility of this happening in future.

Currently, Sri Lankan medical degrees are said to be in high demand with approximately 400 foreign students undergoing clinical training. Former University Grants Commission (UGC) Chairperson Sampath Amaratunge said that universities will also consider students of Sri Lankan origin who reside abroad. Currently, the requirements to study medicine for a foreign student are a simple pass and two credit passes in Biology, Chemistry and Physics at a foreign exam in one sitting.

Attempts to contact the current UGC Chairperson and the Secretary to the Ministry of Education regarding the issue, failed.