Shamala Kumar PART II This two-part Kuppi Talk addresses the seeming the lack of a systematically formulated policy for free university education. Policy and University Education – the 1950s The 1950s saw the fruits of free education reach the university. The SLFP-led government formed in 1956 transformed what had been reserved for a privileged few […]
Do we have a policy for higher education? Read More »
Shamala Kumar Through a review of the history of national policy making on university education, this first of a two-part Kuppi Talk demonstrates the persistent lack of a strong and systematically formulated policy for Sri Lanka’s university system. PART I Free education and the birth of a free country “We contemplate generally that the cost
Do we have a policy for higher education: A historical analysis Read More »
Kaushalya Perera Academics involved in education policy like to say that there is no such thing as a private university in Sri Lanka. The only ‘universities’ in the country are state universities; anything else offering degrees are private higher education institutions (HEIs). This position is technically accurate. Yet, in the discourse and imagination of the
Udari Abeyasinghe It has been almost two months since the judgement of Abeyasinghe v Tilakaratne and others by the Supreme Court. Since then, I have often been asked a simple question, which I too have asked myself. “Has anything actually changed?” my answer is both yes and no. Judgements can uphold the law, direct institutions
The Perfect Victim: How Institutions Respond Read More »
Nandaka Maduranga Kalugampitiya The biggest part of the challenge of a critical scholar in the humanities is having to engage critically with the very realities that define her existence as a social being. She cannot even begin to comment on the focus of her study without creating shock waves that would hit her own self
The Burden, and also Strength, of the Critical Scholar in the Humanities Read More »
Mahendran Thiruvarangan A public university relies on its teachers in fulfilling its responsibilities to the wider community. While teaching remains the chief responsibility of the academic staff, they also conduct research and play a central role in keeping the university a vibrant space where they and students can freely participate in conversations that concern not
Pitfalls and Exclusions in Academic Recruitment Read More »
By Sivamohan Sumathy Free Education has been with us for more than 80 years now. It predates independence. One of its clearest objectives was to give the people, far and wide, an equitable chance. Given the fragile economy we have, first dependent on export crops and now, on exporting labour, through a volatile manufacturing sector,
Deep Seek Matters: Education and its divides Read More »
By Ramya Kumar Over seven years after making an initial complaint of sexual harassment against her research supervisor, Dr. Udari Abeyasinghe, then a temporary lecturer and now a senior lecturer at the University of Peradeniya, has been finally served justice. On May 8, 2026, the Supreme Court made the following directions regarding Udari’s fundamental rights
Ahilan Kadirgamar The countryside and peripheral regions have been neglected in the national imagination for many decades. This has also been the case with regional universities which were seen as mere appendages to the university system, and sometimes created to appease political constituencies in the regions. The exclusion of the rural world and the institutions
Regional Universities Read More »
Shamala Kumar This Article is formed from listening to university students from across the country for two research initiatives, one on academic freedom and another on higher education policy. In speaking with students, the fears they carry could not be ignored. Students navigate university education, with anxieties about their future and fears that they and
The University Student Read More »
