In the backdrop of a high profile parliamentary subcommittee pointing out major irregularities in the formation of the Batticaloa campus and its funding sources, the Prime Minister recently sought approval from the Cabinet to amend the Universities Act to pave way for private educational institutions to be strictly regulated.
The amendments proposed to the Sections 70A and 70D (ii) of the Universities Act No.16 of 1978 will ensure the Batticaloa campus is open for all students irrespective of race, ethnicity and religion and that the degrees awarded at the campus are in conformity with the Act, meaning it will shun the possibility of degrees on extreme Islamic Sharia law, as feared.
The Batticaloa campus founded by the former Governor M.L.A.M.Hisbullah’s charity, Hira Foundation, allegedly planned to have a separate department dedicated for Sharia law. The campus sought permission to recruit teaching staff for this department from the University Grants Commission at the very outset.
The Cabinet paper submitted by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe a week ago proposed Amendments to the Universities Act No. 16 of 1978 under which both the state universities and private universities are currently governed.
The Prime Minister explained that the panel of experts appointed after the disturbing findings of the Sectoral Oversight Committee on Education and Human Resources Development on the private Batticaloa campus, recommended the Amendments to the Act to provide a strong legal framework to regulate the private degree awarding institutions effectively. The Sectoral Oversight Committee in Parliament is chaired by MP Prof.Ashu Marasinghe.
The Cabinet paper was drafted based on the concept paper submitted by the panel of experts where it has put forward amendments to section 70A which specifies the conditions the private universityshould abide by and section 70 D where powers of the Regulatory Authority is specified.
Under the amended Section 70D, the Higher Education Minister in consultation with the Regulatory Authority has been given powers to revoke the license to operate if the private institution violates the conditions set forth in the Act.
The Amendment to the Act has also included explicit provisions to subject the private degree awarding institution for an annual audit and compels the university authorities to report all donations received by the institution.
This has been included in the light of the findings that the Batticaloa campus received nearly Rs.4 billion as foreign donations or loans, from questionable sources. The Sectoral Oversight Committee has recommended a forensic audit with the help of the Interpol to investigate sources of the funding to the campus project by Hira Foundation. Within a span of a year from March 2016 to June 2017 the Bank of Ceylon account of the Hira Foundation had received Rs.3.6 billion from the City Bank in New York. The funding was for the Campus project and there had been no audits of the funds. Neither the Central Bank nor the BOC had been informed of the true nature of the transactions.
In their report to the Parliament, the Committee stressed that shady attempts to set up questionable institutions in the guise of educational institutions should be thwarted by the Government.
It has recommended that the Batticaloa campus, situated in the Eastern province should be affiliated to the Eastern university to cater to all Sri Lankans instead of only Muslim students.
The legal draftsman will be directed to draft the amendments to the University Act once the approval is given a senior official with the PM’s office said.