The Hon. (Dr.) (Ms.) Harini Amarasuriya

¶ 01 Hon. Member, the Open University is also a State university; it delivers education through distance mode rather than the conventional mode. Students of law faculties of all State universities are eligible to sit the final examination of the Law College; this is not a special privilege to the Open University.

¶ 02 The General Sir John Kotelawala Defence University, though not under the Ministry of Education or the UGC, is a State-related university, and decisions are made after quality review processes. It is not a university under the UGC Act; a policy decision is required, and we are studying that.

¶ 03 Regarding the Eastern University, we consider all universities as national universities, not on a purely regional basis. Establishing any faculty or programme must be initiated by the respective university, proceed through its Senate and Council to the UGC’s review and approval process, and then come to the Ministry. It is not at the Minister’s discretion. If the Eastern University initiates it, the process can proceed accordingly.