I am a strong believer, that it should be (totally) a State Affair = levying fees for providing degrees and higher education, particularly Professional Studies so that to maintain the Standards and Integrity all equal for fees levying as well as for Free Education; in other words the fees levying system of providing Professional Degrees should not be left entirely with private individuals and Institutions.
The State undertakes the Higher Education affairs through the Ministry of Higher Education, which in turn operates through University Grants Commission (UGC).
UGC being a State Saturate Body, holds the capacity to initiate any State Institute including Universities that is completely run by the State Funds and it is always assumed and granted that all relevant and concerned units play their respective roles in establishing the each Faculties offering the degree courses to a UNIVERSALLY ACCEPTABLE STANDARD.
When it comes to establishing a Private University or a Technical Institute that levies fees that offer Studies for Degrees, any relevant and concerned units will not come into the process of establishing spontaneously, and the mere approvals from UGC and Board of Investment (BOI) make the requirements far from just short; particularly for Medical Degree studies, which is an issue of very highly sensitive and dangerous, because the said qualifying personae will interact with the precious Human Life directly and dire consequences of a fault befall on the entire chain and poses social threat as well.
Therefore the approvals from UGC and BOI is acutely trifle for a Medical Degree Course, unless the said institute and more importantly the offered Curriculum recommended are approved correct by UNIVERSALLY ACCEPTABLE STANDARD modulators the professional body Medical Councils, for Sri Lanka, Sri Lanka Medical Council.(SLMC)
Even if a Professor of a Medical Faculty leads the UGC or if the President of the SLMC, Chairs the UGC as well, just an approval from UGC alone is insufficient, and the certification can be merited only by approval of SLMC Executive Committee, comprising various fields of studies affiliated towards a Basic Medical Degree.
Mere discussions with members of the Sri Lanka Medical Council the all-important regulatory body on a personal levels would not suffice the requirement, The Executive Committee of the Medical Council should be satisfied, about the structure, conduct, and constant integrity of what is recommended by the Sri Lanka Medical Council itself. It is not just issuing a certificate of standard but a continuous process of monitoring the whole system for a Degree education program, through various channels and members since the entire Medical Practitioners are registered with SLMC
The GMOA, The Government Medical Officers' Trade Union of the Government Medical Practitioners with MBBS and some may be with Post Graduate degrees as well in no way can be over-weighed as equal to SLMC, for whatsoever reason, particularly in legal deliberations, even if the GMOA involve itself to support its' PATRON body SLMC, since the latter’s Executive Members as REGULATORY BODY of a Noble Profession, comprises highly Educated, vastly Experienced Eminent Persons, and they all do deserves due respect for their positions.
Therefore even though the superior court has ruled that the legality of the degree certificates issued is as valid, in terms of legal letters, quality knowledge of those possessing those certificates has to be re-examined for capability of application within the State Health Care Institutes, because it is Sri Lanka Medical Council’s sole responsibility whether those certificates issuing institutes are maintaining the standard and the integrity stipulated by the Sri Lanka Medical Council, to continue as standard Medical Course offering Institutes.
The Government of Sri Lanka and the UGC had repeatedly made the same mistake over the years, by ignoring the imperative authentic body - The standard modulators SLMC, whenever they endeavoured to establish a private medical school; the result was few over anxious consultants began fees levying began medical degree education North Colombo Medical College (NCMC) just at the behest of J.R. Jayewardene and the Northern consultants Followed the suit, to begin North Ceylon Medical College; though incidentally or timidly both establishes fitted into one abbreviation NCMC the former has been nationalized since 1989 and it became the Faculty of Medicine, University of Kelaniya, but the latter one and the students enrolled suffered for ten years for recognition of any sort which never happened and that institute had dead and gone, while few students went abroad to complete their endeavor, few others sought the alternatives since the consultants used the tragic loophole of UGC conceit towards SLMC. Now the SAITM has get caught in the “I the Ruler You the Executor” attitude of the Government and the UGC - exactly the way an autocrat would act.
The GMOA reports and accuses that a draft of Standard and Conditions stipulated for Establishing Medical Universities for MBBS Degrees, meticulously prepared by Sri Lanka Medical Council, to be published by Gazette notification has been dumped into the dust pin of Parliamentary Complex. Does the political clowns wanted teach Medicine to our students? In that case all actions towards preventing such a dangerous antecedence and scenario deserves its merit.
The UGC should have shown more empathy towards the quality of the Higher Education that to be provided by an Investor rather than reviewing occluded by the amount of Investment. UGC’s motive for quality Higher cannot be overrun by self-superior-conceits. They should have had the prudence, to think why there is a basic requirement is in place for the MBBS degree holders to be registered with SLMC, as UNIVERSAL Standard Acceptance Policy, before the Degree Holders begin their medical Practice; it is actually a fundamental approach that check the quality of the Degree awarding Institute.
The government and the UGC had realized the need of the fee levying Higher education in addition to providing and continuing the free higher education long ago, but do not possess the providence to seek the alternatives other than totally private institutions run by profit minded investors. Why Cannot UGC play the both role, free as well fee levying system and the answer is – it is a highly sensitive political issue, and the political clowns cannot market the criteria of fee levying section within the state Universities. President Mahinda Rajapaksha initiated the SAITM by his autocratic style, overruling all the formalities and procedures and see what his stand today – he is just not worried about the students of the SAITM, to whom he himself did the reimbursements to start with. This just one example of Political Clown Decision.
Do the members of the University Grants Commission have any value for their highly well-educated and experienced integrity to work under those political clowns the way they wanted to make their ends meet?
The State Universities should have Free Educating Students as well as certain Percentage of Fees Levying students according to the strict merit system, and no way the students entering the State Universities on strict merit system for Free Education, can hold the State Universities and state Institutes for ransom.
All students should be allowed to compete each other under the same umbrella. That is, the some unfortunate students of a particular examination given another opportunity to compete with the most fortunate students, and interpreted as (only) capable and clever students who (only) have the rights to pursue for Graduation in State Universities.
Thus there cannot be a rule that prohibits the State Universities cannot levy fully scaled fees for providing Degrees particularly Medical Degrees which is most sought, along with the students selected merit wise for a nominal fees education, which is known as Free Education towards Degrees. These Fees Levying sections need not be necessarily within a State University infrastructure, but strictly guided by a particular University as well as by Professional Body of the Profession to which degrees are offered.
All future State Universities that is to be established, have to provide education for free as well as for fee, under same condition and criteria, but differentiated by a strict merit system – such system is very successful in India's State owned Colleges, Russia and some other countries.
It is also noteworthy that the cost of the Medical Decree in The SAITM is almost three fold than that of any Russian Federation State Universities, which are very far better than the of the Malabae SAITM, mind you this comparison of expenditure calculation includes the 05 two way transports of Aviation and road transport to the Russian University during vacations.
