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Open University: Intake to expand by 5,000

28 Dec 2020

By Hiranyada Dewasiri   The Open University of Sri Lanka (OUSL) will be admitting 5,000 new students to its Bachelor's of Information Technology (IT) programme for the upcoming academic year, The Morning learnt.  OUSL Vice Chancellor Prof. S.A. Ariadurai told The Morning that the programme will call for applications in January, and the academic year will commence between March and April 2021.   Infrastructure for this project will be funded by the University Grants Commission (UGC), as well as through a portion of a Rs. 300 million World Bank grant under its “Accelerating Higher Education and Development” (AHEAD) programme, said the Vice Chancellor. He added that “the centre will probably be outside the Nawala campus, due to the lack of space inside”.  The OUSL registered 25,165 students for undergraduate programmes in 2019, according to the university website.  Speaking about plans for the development and expansion of the higher education sector, UGC Chairman Prof. Sampath Amaratunge told The Morning that the UGC had requested the OUSL to admit 10,000 students. However, Prof. S.A. Ariadurai told us that the OUSL is initially looking at only an additional 5,000 students. “The Government has requested an intake of 10,000 students, which we will consider based on the number of applications we receive,” he said.  The IT degree programme will consist of subjects such as data science, information technology, information management, information science, and artificial intelligence. This programme will follow the usual open, distance-learning system of the Open University and will be levying a fee. A separate centre will be established for this programme, and the degree will be awarded by the OUSL’s Department of Computer Science under its Faculty of Natural Sciences, together with the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering under its Faculty of Engineering.


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