Corporates can finance universities for endowments to train industry graduates - SEC Chairman

Government action from 2005 to 2014 to absorb graduates without any specific duties has spelt disaster for the new government and the people,Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chairman Tilak Karunaratne said.

This action he said only bloated the public service which doubled during this period, adding to the pension burden of the government which eventually will be passed on to the citizens of this country.

Delivering the keynote address at the 34th Annual General Meeting of the Alumni Association of the Colombo University held at College House he also raised concerns on the employability of graduates, especially those who come out with a degree in humanities.

He also mentioned that there was research to show that this phenomenon of unemployability was common to the region, and that even in countries such as South Korea,graduates spend another two years following courses of studies which will prepare them for the positions available in the job market.

Karunaratne said the alumni can get actively involved in training these graduates with the collaboration of the university, in areas where they could be found reasonable employment. He suggested the area of service management.

“Tourism was booming but Sri Lanka has not anticipated the exponential growth of tourists from China.”He suggested that the University can run a diploma course which will arm students with these skills.

He said that the necessary finances and the teachers may be drawn from the industry itself under the supervision of local staff.

“Sri Lanka have large corporates, banks, extremely large family owned businesses and other commercial ventures not forgetting high net worth individuals who have the capacity to make these endowments.Yet, we hardly tap them for endowments for our universities.”