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Rendering unto Caesar: the pathetic

state of Sri Lankas university


administration

What the University Grants Commission has done so far is not to promote
competition among universities. It has developed a system where all universities
have become uniform institutions Pic by Sameera Wijesinghe

Monday, 29 June 2015


Passing the responsibility onto masters
Rendering unto Caesar has been the title of the acclaimed autobiography
of the top civil servant Bradman Weerakoon who had served nine Prime
Ministers during his long career. The message delivered by the title is that
the bureaucracy which wields so much of administrative powers has a
tendency to pass the responsibility for all mishaps unto Caesar, a collective
title used for their political masters.
The political masters too have created a situation to get the full blame by
openly displaying their mastery on everything, including the adverse
changes in or the oncoming of favourable weather. Thus, at elections,

politicians change but the bureaucracy continues just like in ancient Rome,
Caesar had been gone but Rome had continued at least for some time.
But it kills the creativity of public servants devoid of challenges
But the effect is devastating for the bureaucrats personally and for the
nation as a whole. Bureaucrats lose their creative skills but develop only
cunningness as to how they could survive and prosper amid a gang of
politicians who take control of everything from rains to high economic
planning.
The nation loses because, devoid of creative workers, it would not plan
properly for its future prosperity. The inevitable outcome would be a nation
that would move backward day by day. This is what has happened to Sri
Lankas once much-praised administrative service and to the nation as a
whole.
Caesar at the university system
A classic example of the repeat of rendering unto Caesar has taken place in
the current university system in Sri Lanka.
A single university with different campuses killed university systems
creativity
During the reign of Sirimavo Bandaranaike from 1970 to 1977, all the
universities in Sri Lanka were integrated into a single university called the
University of Ceylon converting the individual universities which had
functioned independently previously

into different
campuses under this integrated
university. This important change to the countrys university system was
made consequent on a recommendation made by special committee
appointed by the government under the chairmanship of a reputed
academic and leftist politician, Osmond Jayarathne.
The Osmond Jayarathne Committee had argued that for a small country like
Sri Lanka, it was not economical to have a number of universities because
they tended to duplicate courses and degree programmes. Hence, in order
to manage the scarce resources of the country properly, it was suggested
to have a single university at the centre and all other universities to
function under that single university as campuses.
This move by the Government was contrary to what it had promised at the
elections in 1970. Criticising the previous system in which it was alleged
that the autonomy of universities had been destroyed by the National
Council of Higher Education, the Government had promised to restore
autonomy to universities by having a university grants commission at the
centre for the sole purpose of allocating funds to State universities. But
what was done was a complete reversal in which a centralised university
was imposed on all the universities taking away even the prevailing
autonomy which they had enjoyed for decades.
It killed the creativity of the university system since all decisions relating to
universities were taken at the centre by a group of people attached to the
integrated university.

The need for restoring university autonomy


Hence, the need when the new Government came to power in 1977 was to
fully restore the academic and administrative autonomy to the countrys
university system. Wimal G Balagalle, a Professor of Sinhalese at the then
Vidyodaya Campus of the University of Ceylon, has described the desired
change in an article written in Sinhala and titled A Sketch of the History of
the University of Sri Jayewardenepura published in the Journal Vidyodaya in
1984 as follows: One of the promises in the election manifesto of UNP that
came to power in 1977 under J.R. Jayewardenes leadership was to restore
the lost autonomy to universities in Sri Lanka.
Accordingly, the Universities Act No. 16 of 1978 was enacted in Parliament
and was implemented as from 1 January 1979 reconverting the previous
campuses in to independent universities under an umbrella organisation
called the Universities Grants Commission, abbreviated as UGC.
UGC system functioned well in the first few years
During the first few years the Universities Act was effective, the newly
established universities had enjoyed considerable autonomy in their
operations as claimed by Balagalle.
Says Balagalle: During the first few years under the University Grants
Commission, the environment within the university was a favourable one.
Student discipline improved considerably. During this period, a serious
student dispute arose only on one occasion (at the University of Sri
Jayewardenepura). The lethargy which had overwhelmed the majority of
university teachers previously began to disappear gradually (....) The
Convocations which had been abandoned were restarted and held annually
building reputation about the university in the country (....) This was also a
favourable era regarding the capital developments within the university.
UGC acquiring more powers and becoming a bureaucratic head
However, this situation has changed from better to worse in the subsequent
periods with a number of amendments to the Universities Act giving more
and more powers to UGC. Since UGC was effectively under political control,
it was indeed an empowerment of the countrys political machinery with
respect to the countrys university education.
When the universities had given up their autonomy voluntarily, UGC and
the political machinery above it had captured the universities and the
higher education system in the country. By now, universities have become
glorified Technical Colleges functioning under the direction of educational
authorities with no freedom to do what they should do.

By statute, the Council is the supreme authority of a university


In terms of the Universities Act, the supreme authority of a university is its
Council chaired by the Vice Chancellor. From the academic side, it is
composed of the Vice Chancellor, Deputy Vice Chancellor, Rector, Deans of
Faculties, and two representatives of the Senate. The Council should have
members appointed by UGC from outside to form a majority because, in
terms of the Act, they should have a number increased by one over the
academic members.
The Act says that they should be from among persons who have rendered
distinguished service in educational, professional, commercial, industrial,
scientific or administrative spheres Hence, the objective enshrined in the
Act has been to appoint a Council composed of people of worth to give
effective leadership to a university. But, for the Council to serve this
purpose, it should have powers to act as the real authority of a university.
The Council has all the powers in theory
In fact, in terms of the Universities Act, the Council has all powers to do its
job. Those powers are extended to all areas of operations of a university,
from administration to finance to academic. It has powers to make By-Laws
and Regulations. The only limitation is that, in respect of By-Laws, they
should be for matters it has been authorised under the Act and in respect of
regulations, those that have not been made by any other authority in a
university.
The matters authorised under the Act which have enabled the Council to
make By-Laws cover all the administrative, financial and academic areas of
a university. However, on academic matters, its decisions should first be
referred to the Senate, the academic authority of a university, for its views
and opinion. Yet, the final decision with respect to even academic matters
rests with the Council.

The Minister has powers only to communicate written directions on


national policy
The Minister in charge of higher education has been given powers under the
Act to issue general written directions to UGC conveying it the national
policy on higher education. Once these directions are issued, it is the
responsibility of UGC to implement them.
These powers have been given to the Minister not to interfere in the day to
day operations of a university but to direct all of them in line with the
national policy on higher education. A minister cannot use these powers
arbitrarily. They should necessarily be to bring in national policy into the
higher education field. As such, there are several safeguards provided in
the Act to prevent the Minister from abusing these powers.
Safeguards to prevent the abuse of ministerial powers
First, these directions should be in writing so that they are fully disclosed,
transparent and on record. Thus, a Minister cannot deny having issued
them later. Second, they should be general instructions and not specific to
any matter concerning a university. Third, all these directions should be
tabled in Parliament as soon as possible so that they become documents
available in public domain. It also gives an opportunity for the
Parliamentarians to debate on the appropriateness or suitability of the
directions issued by the Minister.
Hence, the Minister of higher education in Sri Lanka is not someone acts
secretively but openly to facilitate full public disclosure of what he does. It
is important for UGC and the university Councils to take not of this role of
the political authorities as provided for by legislations. Any deviation from

such open practice required of a Minister should not be obliged by those


who run UGC or universities.
Competition among universities a must to promote excellence
But in practice, what is happening is completely contrary to the provisions
in the Universities Act. If the Government is interested in building a vibrant
and dynamic university system, it should necessarily promote competition
among different universities in the country. Competition leads to excellence
and excellence leads to building universities of high repute. This is
observable in the case of the global ranking of the Sri Lankan universities.
While none of the Sri Lankan universities have been ranked by any of the
leading ranking agencies such as QS Ranking or Times Educational Ranking,
unofficial rankings done for local universities have been made available. In
terms of these unofficial rankings, none of the local universities have scored
sufficient marks to be ranked even below the top 2000 universities in the
world. If competition prevails among the local universities, they have
incentives to attain excellence and become universities of repute within the
global university system.
UGC has killed competition and instead built uniform universities
What UGC has done so far is not to promote competition among
universities. It has developed a system where all universities have become
uniform institutions. They are governed by a uniform remuneration system,
uniform career advancement and promotion system, uniform disciplinary
management system and uniform recruitment system. This has adversely
affected the ability of universities to recruit and retain top quality
academics or top quality administrators.
A Vice Chancellor of a university has to manage a staff of more than 4000
members and 10,000 students. He is also required to plan for the future
development of a university. Yet, the remuneration of vice chancellors has
been fixed uniformly at the salary level of a senior university professor
which is lower than a middle level executive of a State bank.
With that type of remuneration, it is unlikely that a university would be able
to recruit a person of high repute and calibre to hold that extremely
responsible position. Hence, it is only the junior academics like senior
lecturers who have all the incentives to apply for the post of vice chancellor.
By paying unattractive salaries to academic staff on a uniform basis,
incentives have been built within the system for highly qualified academics
to leave universities seeking for greener pastures elsewhere.
Universities are like branch offices of a state bank
University councils have no freedom to decide on the salaries of the
academic or non-academic staff. They have to be guided by the uniform

systems introduced by UGC. Hence, the current universities in Sri Lanka are
not separate independent institutions. They are like the branches of a state
bank where the branch manager looks up to the head office for guidance on
every matter pertaining to his branch.
In the same way, the university councils, university vice chancellors,
university administrators and even university academics look up to UGC for
guidance on every minor and trivial matter. In the process, they have
become obedient followers. But at the same time, they have lost even the
commonsense and creativity of doing something productively. This is a
serious situation facing the universities in Sri Lanka.
Recruitment of staff on political nominations
A worse development that has happened in the recent past has been the
inability of universities to recruit clerical and minor grade staff. It is known
that the universities have been issued with a list of names recommended
by the political authority of the university system for such recruitment.
One may justify this nomination system as a system that has made the
recruitment easier and less costly. That is because, given the high
unemployment level among the educated categories, if a university is to
advertise these posts, the chances are that it would get flooded by
applications. Hence, the nominations made by the political authority make
the life of university administrators less cumbersome. But, the danger is
that these nominated workers have a godfather looking after them outside
the university and as a result, the university administrators find it difficult
to administer disciplinary control over them.
Lame duck councils to waste time on even minor disciplinary
matters
There is no delegation of authority in the university system and as a result,
every minor issue at the university is brought before the Council for
guidance or for approval. For instance, if a minor employee has stolen a
broom stick, even to call for explanation from the employee in question, the
approval of the Council is sought. Thus, the administrative staffs render it
unto the Council.
At the Council, the members, instead of using commonsense, look for
guidance from UGC. Accordingly, the Council members render it unto the
UGC. The result is that no one in the system wants to make decisions and
take responsibility for such decisions. The wide practice of this
responsibility passing game has killed the creativity within the university
systems. This is indeed a pathetic state to which universities have
descended. It needs quick fixing, if the university system is to survive in Sri
Lanka.

(W.A. Wijewardena, a former Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Sri


Lanka, can be reached at waw1949@gmail.com.)
Posted by Thavam

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