SL universities face risk of drop in world rankings: FUTA

With university teachers leaving the country, the teacher-student ratio in the universities has decreased.

Because of this, there is a serious risk of Sri Lankan universities dropping in the international rankings of universities, the Federation of University Teachers’ Associations (FUTA) said.

On average, a university has a world-recognized ratio of one teacher to 10 students. But FUTA reveals that this figure in Sri Lanka has now dropped to one teacher for every 60 students.

Members of the FUTA revealed this information at a press conference held on Monday (4) at the Peradeniya University.

Former FUTA President Professor Shyam Bannahaka said that in the first six months of this year, around 600 university teachers have left the country. He said that another group is preparing to leave the country in the near future.

University lecturers who were affected by the tax system introduced by the Government started a trade union struggle last March. Prof. Bannahaka said that the trade union action was suspended due to the promise given by the Government representatives that they would be given some tax relief. He also stated that no one has given a solution to the issue since then.

The Education Minister said that 1,024 new lecturers will be recruited, but he emphasized that it will take at least 10 years for them to attain the maturity of a senior lecturer. President of the Peradeniya branch of the FUTA Dr. Ruchika Fernando said: “By July 2023, 15,000 students were studying in Peradeniya University. There should be 1,400 teachers to match this number of students, but currently there are only 800.” He also emphasized that due to this situation, there is a risk of the University of Peradeniya falling in the world rankings in the future.

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