Professional Documents
Culture Documents
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
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.
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.