The NPP’s New Challenge: Balancing Easter Lawfare and Economic Welfare

This article deals with the subject of centralizing and decentralizing universities in Sri Lanka and discusses the advantages of one against the other. What are the appropriate conditions and the factors governing the choice? Who decides – politicians or academics? The Sri Lanka experience seems to suggest neither. The two most important landmarks in the history of university education in Sri Lanka, other than the setting up of the University of Ceylon in 1942, were the amalgamation of the then existing universities in 1972 by the Universities Act No. 01 of 1972 and the enactment of the Universities Act No. 16 of 1978 to form autonomous universities with the University Grants Commission to carry out far more than the mere disbursement of funds. This study will describe the factors leading to the amalgamation of the existing universities in 1972 and then the decentralization of the federal university in 1979 to form five autonomous universities. Though the Ceylon Medical College was in existence from the latter part of the nineteenth century, university education really began in January1921when the University College was formally opened in Colombo as a government institution affiliated to the University of London. The University College was transformed into the University of Ceylon in July 1942 by the University of Ceylon Ordinance No.20 of 1942, after some negotiation between the British Governors and the Principal of the University College. Thereafter, a single University of Ceylon was established by amalgamating the existing Ceylon Medical College and the University College. The University of Ceylon continued as the only university in the country until 1959 when the SWRD Bandaranaike government upgraded two established seats of Buddhist learning to set up the Vidyodaya and Vidylankara Universities. The UNP government of 1965 effected a further change in the system a year later by passing the Higher Education Act No. 20 of 1966 setting up the National Council of Higher Education (NCHE) to oversee the functioning of the universities. This body was like a University Grants Commission but had a little more power. In 1967, the then University of Ceylon was split into the Universities of Colombo and Peradeniya and there were four universities in the country until February 1972. The amalgamation All political parties in the country were preparing for the general election in 1970 and the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), led by Mrs. Sirima Bandaranaike which was in the opposition had, in its election manifesto, outlined the changes they would effect in the field of higher education if they came to power. The advisors to the SLFP on higher education had drawn up a blueprint to achieve economies in higher education and to do away with the NCHE, controlling the universities, which they had long opposed. The Chairman of the NCHE was a former professor of Pali, Prof. GP Malalasekera with six other members, mostly well-known educationists. The former Vice-Chancellors of the universities also participated in the meetings of the NCHE. The main reason for the desire to effect a change in the higher educational set up were to achieve economies by the rationalization of courses, reductions in staff, etc. rather than ridding the system of the ‘dictatorial’ NCHE. As soon as the SLFP assumed control, a committee was appointed by the Minister of Education, Dr. Badi-Ud- Din Mahmud, to study and make recommendations which would help to achieve the desired goals. The committee consisted entirely of university teachers from various disciplines ranging from medicine and engineering to history and comprised Dr. Osmund Jayaratne (Chairman), Dr. VK Samaranayake, Dr. Shelton Kodikara, Dr. Upali Kuruppu, Dr. Keerthi Dissanayake and Dr. K Jayasena. Members were drawn from all the universities and the College of Technology. The committee held sittings and recorded evidence, both oral and written, for almost one year and they drew up the plan for a unification or amalgamation of the universities to form a single federal university. It recommended the establishment of a single university on the pattern of the University of London. There was to be a Senate House at the centre with the Vice-Chancellor at the helm and the existing universities would be the campuses of the single university. Each of the campuses were to have a President as the Head responsible to the Vice-Chancellor. With the establishment of the single university the committee envisaged achieving economies by cutting down on staff as there was no need to have a Vice-Chancellor in each campus; rationalization of courses to avoid duplication; and creating centres of excellence in various disciplines in the various campuses. Economies could have been achieved if the single university had been established and the recommendations of the committee implemented. But, in reality, these things were never achieved. The government accepted the recommendations of the committee in principle and went ahead with the drafting of the required legislation and the University of Ceylon Act No. 01 of 1972 duly enacted. The new university had a Senate House and the Vice-Chancellor’s office at its core and the former universities formed campuses subordinate to the Senate House with a President as the head of each campus. The College of Technology was absorbed as the fifth campus. Results of the amalgamation It is of interest to note that with the establishment of the single university all but one of the members who served on the committee were appointed Presidents of the campuses. Dr. Osmund Jayaratne in Colombo, Dr. VK Samaranayake in Vidyodaya, Dr. Shelton Kodikara in Peradeniya, Dr, Keerthi Dissanayake in Vidyalankara and Dr.Upali Kuruppu in Katubedda. The other member, Dr. K Jayasena, was appointed as the Registrar of the University of Sri Lanka. How far were the factors envisaged by the committee achieved in reality? In respect of rationalization of courses, very little was achieved. The Departments of Education at Peradeniya, Vidyodaya and Vidyalankara campuses were brought to the Colombo campus and a Faculty of Education was established in 1976 almost four years after the university came into being. Some of the teachers were transferred against their wishes as those in Peradeniya enjoyed housing and better medical facilities and, therefore, did not want to leave. The single education faculty was achieved during the tenure of the second Vice-Chancellor, Mr. LH Sumanadasa. The first Vice-Chancellor, Prof. BA Abeyawickrama, was able to bring about only a very mild form of rationalization. What was achieved was not exactly rationalization, but creation of centres of excellence in the various campuses in respect of various disciplines. The centre of excellence for languages was created in the Vidyalankara campus, and most of the teachers in the Departments of languages were transferred to that campus. Here, too, some of the teachers were transferred under protest for the reasons cited earlier. In most of the disciplines there was absolutely no rationalization, even as a public relations gesture. What happened was the opposite. There was duplication of certain disciplines and more than duplication of others since the campuses did not want to lose what they already had and they opposed any disciplines being taken away from them. Instead, what the campuses wanted was to expand and obtain disciplines they did not have. So it is evident that the rationalization of courses did not work as planned and, therefore, it was not possible to achieve the planned economies of having fewer teachers and maximum utilization of scarce resources. Instead, what happened was that some of the departments in the campuses expanded and had a larger number of staff members than before. Neither were economies achieved in respect of the top-level staff. Though there was only one Vice-Chancellor, the Presidents of the campuses were also drawing the same salary as the Vice-Chancellor and, therefore, there was one person extra at this level than under the previous system. There was only one Registrar for the whole University of Sri Lanka, but the campuses had additional Registrars, so that in that category too, there was one person additional to the cadre than in the previous system. The Act of Parliament which established the single university determined the structure of the university, gave it legitimacy and indicated how vital matters such as the control of the university, the authority, rights and responsibilities of different governing bodies at different levels were determined. The federation was created to achieve two main objectives; to reduce the expenditure on university education, and to rationalize courses. Both were economic reasons. It was found that having more universities meant higher costs in respect of governing boards and staff. If many of the matters could be handled by a central office, the non-academic staff of the campuses could be reduced in number. There was also more duplication of courses because often, three of the universities had the same courses. It was planned to avoid this by rationalization, and this would result in the reduction of the academic staff needed and thereby achieve economies. It was also felt that having one central body controlling all activities of the campuses would result in uniformity in all campuses with regard to all examinations, curricula and admissions., and in respect of appointments and promotion of staff (both academic and non-academic). It was felt that the costs would be reduced considerably with central control since the government grant was distributed among the campuses according to student numbers and the capital vote according to the priorities. Once disbursed, the central body was responsible for seeing that the monies granted were spent according to plan. The central body was responsible for maintaining standards of all examinations in the campuses through a system of examination boards. The curricula of all campuses were decided at the centre by Boards of Study, so that throughout the campuses the standards were maintained on a uniform basis. All admissions of students to the various faculties in the campuses were determined by the Admissions Committee at the centre. Under the earlier organizational structure, some universities were not in a position to recruit the best graduates to the academic staff because some universities were considered inferior to others earlier. So, they had to be content with academics with poor qualifications. With the establishment of the single university all appointments had to be sanctioned by the central governing authority, the Board of Governors. This prevented campuses from recruiting personnel with poorer qualifications and also the competition among campuses to recruit staff was eliminated. The unified university did not live up to expectations because administration became unwieldy with campuses located far from Colombo. Senate House was not able to have proper control over all activities, and some matters were necessarily attended to by the campuses without reference to the Senate House. The campuses were also dissatisfied with the system, complaining that there were long delays in the implementation of certain decisions, and that the Senate House was indifferent to the campuses. On the other hand, when problems arose, there was buck passing between Senate House and the campuses. Inability to put an end to problems as soon as they arose led to student unrest, strikes and demonstrations, violence and destruction of university property on many campuses on a number of occasions. This resulted in the removal of a President in one instance and the killing of a student in another followed by the closure of the university and the appointment of a Commission of Inquiry. One salient feature in this federal structure was that the Act was not enforced. The Board of Governors met only as an advisory body and the Senate was never established. The Vice-Chancellor was all powerful – he reigned over his kingdom during a transition period extending to almost seven years. He had to carry out the directions of the Minister from time to time or sacrifice his position. These shortcomings led to agitations among the staff on the campuses for a change. The agitation was so widespread that some of the political parties had changes to be effected in the higher education system embodied in their election manifestos. The UNP, in its manifesto for the general election in 1977, had indicated that it would set up once again fully autonomous independent universities in place of the existing campuses. Decentralization A former professor in one of the campuses, who was holding a professional appointment in a foreign university, was appointed by the President of the Republic to make recommendations regarding the new system to be established. He interviewed representatives of various associations, individuals, considered written submissions, and submitted his recommendations to the Minister of Education. The recommendations were accepted by the government, which set about drafting the legislation for the purpose. The Universities Act No. 16 of 1978 established the new university education structure on January 1, 1979, thus repealing the Universities Act No . 1 of 1972. The former campuses were made independent universities. A University Grants Commission (UGC) was established to oversee the work of the universities. Though the UGC was modeled on its counterpart in the United Kingdom, it actually resembled the UGC in Britain only in name. The autonomous universities were established. However, the limitations of the universities with regard to certain functions were laid down by the law itself.It would be worthwhile to compare the powers of the UGC vis a vis the universities, as laid down by the Act of Parliament establishing these universities. On the face of it, it seems that the powers, duties and functions of the UGC and the universities are clearly defined by law but, actually, nothing could be done by the universities without obtaining prior approval of the UGC. There have been quite a few instances where the UGC has encroached on the functions of the universities and has dictated terms to the universities. Actually, in the working of the new system, there has not been very much difference between the earlier federal structure, as far as control is concerned. As in the case of the earlier organization, all the functions of the universities are being controlled by circular instructions from the UGC. With the establishment of the new university structure, a new Ministry of Higher Education was created, with the Minister of Education holding this portfolio as well as that of Education. The Secretary to the Ministry was the same person who was functioning as the Chairman of the UGC. This added more power to the UGC and especially to its chairman. Now the Ministry of Education functions under the Prime Minister. The present arrangement has caused most of the university teachers and other employees to be satisfied because there is a great deal more independence now than under the previous set up. The Vice-Chancellors have to take decisions without passing on responsibility. Therefore, though the expenditure is far greater than earlier, more people are kept satisfied now than under the earlier structure. A significant feature after the establishment of the autonomous universities was the creation of the Open University of Sri Lanka (OUSL) functioning under the Ordinance No. 03 of 1980. The objectives of the OUSL may be indicated as the advancement and dissemination of learning and knowledge by teaching and research, correspondence tuition, residential courses and seminars, and in other relevant ways. It seeks to provide education of university and professional standard to its students, to promote the educational well-being of the community generally, and to meet the demand for manpower skills, especially through training at the middle level. The OUSL achieves its objectives through programmes at different levels and continuing education programmes. These programmes are being provide using the techniques of distance education through the printed word and through the mass media. (The writer of this article served both as Registrar of the University of Colombo and the Open University. He had previously served as Senior Assistant Registrar of the Colombo University) by HM Nissanka Warakaulle