Sri Lanka’s new education minister says he has Church support for his plans to revamp and expand higher education, after recent talks with Archbishop Malcolm Ranjith of Colombo.

Higher Education Minister S.B. Dissanayake on July 23 paid a courtesy call on Archbishop Ranjith.

“The archbishop vowed to help improve and expand higher education in the country,” Dissanayake told ucanews.com.

During the meeting, the minister outlined his challenges and plans for improving higher education to provide more opportunities, enhance competition and bridge the skills gap in the country.

Sri Lanka’s higher education system has suffered a lack of funds over recent years, which has seen little investment in universities.

As a result, the majority of those who qualify for free university education have been unable to get places in the 17 state-run institutions.

The minister and archbishop therefore agreed something had to be done to increase the number of places, which stands at 22,000, to enable more of the 130,000 students wanting a university education each year.

“It’s a longstanding problem,” the minister said.

“He [Archbishop Ranjith] advised me that essential improvements, such as in curriculums, standard of education, and policies to obtain jobs after graduation,” were necessary, he said.

“The archbishop has a thorough knowledge of higher education matters in the country. He gave advice and encouraged me,” added the minister.

The government has already decided to establish private universities to help alleviate the problem of local students competing for jobs with those from universities overseas.

As many as 78 registered local and foreign educational institutes have applied to conduct privately run diploma and degree courses, the minister said.

One Church-run university is among them.

Dissanayake has promised to give private university status to Aquinas University College after studying present legislation, said college rector Father Placidus de Silva.

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