The evolving landscape of university education in Sri Lanka

This paper analyzes the Sri Lankan higher education sector and discusses policy options for future higher education development. The analysis covers the following areas: access and participation, higher education quality, economic relevance, and research and innovation. The paper shows that higher education access and participation has expanded substantially in the country over the last twenty years. However, this expansion has been less than the rapid increase in higher education enrollment seen worldwide during this period. Higher education quality has been an important area for policy makers. Over the past decade or so, two landmark policies have been implemented to promote higher education quality. A quality assurance system has been developed and implemented. Also, an education qualification framework, containing several levels of higher education, has been developed and is being rolled out. The paper discusses several aspects of the relationship between higher education and economic development. The rates of return to higher education are consistently high, across a variety of studies. Higher education also has a strong positive association with economic welfare. Another benefit of higher education, which is assuming prominence in current policy circles, is the positive relationship with female labor force participation. Finally, the paper shows that research and innovation in Sri Lanka are at an early stage of development, but will be extremely important for the future development of the higher education sector.