{"id":65976,"date":"2012-12-22T18:15:00","date_gmt":"2012-12-22T18:15:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=65976"},"modified":"2012-12-24T11:09:42","modified_gmt":"2012-12-24T11:09:42","slug":"producing-chemistry-graduates-at-much-lower-cost","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/producing-chemistry-graduates-at-much-lower-cost\/","title":{"rendered":"Producing Chemistry Graduates At Much Lower Cost"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>By <\/strong><strong><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/\">Oleap Fernando<\/a><\/span> &#8211;<\/strong><\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_65977\" style=\"width: 160px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/producing-chemistry-graduates-at-much-lower-cost\/oleap-fernando\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-65977\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-65977\" class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-65977\" title=\"Oleap Fernando\" src=\"http:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/Oleap-Fernando-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/Oleap-Fernando-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/Oleap-Fernando-50x50.jpg 50w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-65977\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Prof Oleap Fernando<\/p><\/div>\n<p><strong>Enhancing the knowledge hub and producing Chemistry graduates at much lower cost to government\/UGC without any delay<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Recent events and happenings in Sri Lanka&#8217;s tertiary education sector have\u00a0 caused much alarm and consternation. These include the decreasing\u00a0\u00a0 contribution to Education from the Government Budget, the inability of the Government to enhance the emoluments of University academic staff, and the\u00a0 inordinate\u00a0 delay in students\u00a0 being admitted to and passing out from Sri Lankan Universities. The latter cause has got aggravated this year due to strikes and other events that have resulted in an over\u00a0 4 month additional\u00a0 delay. The University admission list based on the 2011\u00a0 A\/L examination is\u00a0 not yet released\u00a0 due to the <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?s=Z+score&amp;x=12&amp;y=3\">Z score<\/a><\/span> problem and\u00a0 the consequential\u00a0 Supreme Court decision to enhance the University intake by 25% . Compunding the problem, there is an unprecedented\u00a0 delay in the release of\u00a0 the 012\u00a0 A\/L results\u00a0 as well.<\/p>\n<p>In this context, I am writing to bring to the notice of the Sri Lankan educational authorities and the Sri lankan public, a relatively simpler mechanism \u00a0to effectively\u00a0 deal\u00a0 with the problems associated with tertiary education at least in the field of such a popular and demanding discipline such as Chemistry. Similar examples and experiences may be available and\/or similar situations\u00a0 may be developed and organized in other areas as well.<\/p>\n<p>The College of Chemical Sciences(CCS) , which is the educational arm of the professional body of Chartered Chemists in Sri lanka ( Institute of Chemistry Ceylon , incorporated by Act of Parliament No 15 of 1972)\u00a0 has since 1979 conducted a Graduateship Programme in Chemistry at the level of a Special (Honours)\u00a0 Chemistry degree . About 900 Graduate Chemists have passed out with increasing frequency (30 batches so far) and\u00a0 the current annual pass out number ranging from\u00a0 75-90 Graduate Chemists\u00a0 corresponds to as much as\u00a0 45% of Sri Lanka&#8217;s total output of\u00a0 about 180 Special Degree\u00a0 level Graduate Chemists\u00a0 including the output from 6 conventional universities. Graduate Chemists passing out of the College of Chemical Sciences , though not possessing a formal university degree , have been recognized and accepted for PHD\/MSc degrees and for employment in many countries right round the world including USA, Canada, UK, Ireland, France, Switzerland, Norway, Italy, Singapore, Australia, New Zealand etc. Our UGC as well as Universities have also accepted the professional Graduate Chemist qualification\u00a0 awarded by the Institute of Chemistry Ceylon .<\/p>\n<p>What is most significant to note\u00a0 in this connection\u00a0 is that through this\u00a0 programme\u00a0 Graduate Chemists\u00a0\u00a0 are produced by the CCS without any delay whatsoever within 4 years of their admission . Admission to the programme is\u00a0 possible as soon as A\/L results are released unlike in the state university system in which the\u00a0 normal time lag could\u00a0 be even one year .The cost incurred by a\u00a0 CCS student is presently in the region\u00a0 of\u00a0 only Rs 3.5-4 lakhs over the entire 4 year period which surely must be the lowest cost for a degree level programme of any type\u00a0 in any part of the world. The quality of the CCS Graduate Chemists is very well recognized and\u00a0 question papers are moderated and answer scripts remarked by UK professors under the coordination of the Royal Society of Chemistry, UK on a regular basis..<\/p>\n<p>Numbers of qualified students seeking admission to the CCS have reached gigantic proportions in the current year and in order to accommodate all who wish to register for this high quality and well recognized programme , the College of Chemical Sciences has decided to run an additional duplicated programme on week-days as well. The state Universities find it impossible to increase the\u00a0 number of special degree chemists they produce to more than about 100 annually. The \u00a0average cost incurred by the government through the <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?s=University+of+Grants+Commission&amp;x=7&amp;y=5\">UGC<\/a><\/span> to produce a single Graduate Chemist over 4 years\u00a0 through the state Universities is reported to be around Rs 1.5 &#8211; 2 million which is about five times what is needed to educate such a student to a similar level at the CCS. It is\u00a0 therefore obvious and pellucidly clear that if the Government\/UGC\u00a0 wishes to increase the number of special degree chemists produced in Sri Lanka in a very convenient , effective and economical manner, then one easy method would be for\u00a0 the UGC is to select a reasonable number of A\/L qualified students ( through whatever system it desires and adopts )and send any such willing students who desire and opt for this alternate path to the CCS . The government could thereby\u00a0 enable\u00a0 an additional number of students to pursue an equivalent degree level programme at the CCS\u00a0 at a cost that would be about\u00a0\u00a0 20 % of what it now spends at a state university.Particularly, in the current context when the UGC has to take in 25% more students for every programme,\u00a0 a selected coterie of students\u00a0 could be admitted by the UGC\u00a0 using this very convenient opportunity available at the CCS\u00a0 which is now able to\u00a0 admit and satisfy an additional number with no difficulty whatsoever. The CCS could take in at least 100 students in January for its week-day programme. Similar opportunities may be available or providable at other institutions and in other\u00a0 disciplines and areas as well.<\/p>\n<p>The time has come when the educational authorities of Sri Lanka\u00a0 should think out of the box with a wider horizon and vision and look for similar unconventional opportunities in unconventional institutions in unconventional ways in order to minimise its present problems in an unconventional manner at a very economical cost . This type of alternate mechanisms\u00a0 should satisfy all stake-holders in a very viable and pragmatic manner.<\/p>\n<p>*<em>Professor\u00a0J N Oleap Fernando, PH D (Imperial College,London); Chartered Chemist; Chartered Scientist,\u00a0Emeritus Professor of Chemistry, The Open University of Sri Lanka,\u00a0Fellow of the National Academy of Sciences of Sri Lanka and\u00a0Past General President, Sri Lanka\u00a0 Association for the Advancement of Science and\u00a0Honorary Rector and Honorary Professor of Chemistry, College of Chemical Sciences, 341\/22, Kotte Road, Welikada, Rajagiriya (phone: 011 286 1231)<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p> [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":65977,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,46,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-65976","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-colombotelegraph","category-constitutional-reforms","category-editorial"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.3 - 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