The high-powered committee tasked with recommending a standardised admissions procedure for the Medical Faculty of the General Sir John Kotelawala Defence University (KDU) has proposed that 100 civilian students be enrolled each year, out of a total batch of 150.
The Committee, headed by Defence Secretary Air Vice Marshal (Retd.) Sampath Thuyakontha and comprising Education Secretary Nalaka Kaluwewa and Health Secretary Dr. Anil Jasinghe, has recommended that only one batch of students be enrolled per each calendar year.
The committee was appointed by the Cabinet of Ministers on June 23 following the controversy that arose after a decision to temporarily halt the intake of civilian students to the KDU medical faculty. Priority will still be given to Security Forces students, followed by foreign students and local civilian students under the new recommendations.
Moreover, 10 percent of the civilian students will get full scholarships on a selection criteria decided on by the Education Ministry. The required Z-Score levels for admission to the KDU Medical Faculty will be communicated in due course, though a score higher than 1.4000 will be generally expected.
Civilian students entering the KDU Medical Faculty will not be allowed to enter any other State University as internal full-time students, with the exception of the Open University. The civilian students will not be required to wear a uniform and they can attend lectures in normal civil clothes.
The civilian students will could get clinical education and training at teaching hospitals recommended by the Health Ministry, according to the Committee. However, the KDU will not give an undertaking to the civilian students that they will get internships or permanent appointments at Government hospitals. Any such recruitment will depend on the vacancies in the health cadre and students will reach an agreement with the KDU to this effect at the time of enrolment.
Any member of an academic Faculty of another State University has to wait for five years after leaving that position to join the KDU teaching staff.
These recommendations are likely to resolve the impasse over the admission of civilian students to the KDU Medical Faculty.
