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Each year 100,000 qualified students have to abandon their ambitions to enter university. Less than 4% of 20-24 year olds in Sri Lanka are enrolled in a university. As Sri Lanka’s aims to grow as a knowledge-based economy and become a ‘Knowledge Hub’ for the region, these numbers are concerning. Meanwhile, the debate on permitting private universities continues apace. A Bill to permit private universities was about to be presented by the government to Parliament, but was subsequently shelved, under pressure from certain student and teacher groups. In this article, Priyanka Jayawardena presents the key arguments put forward and opens them out for wider debate.

After listening to a talk by a Japanese academic at a recent forum in Colombo on East Asian and Malaysian development models and their applicability to Sri Lanka, Project Intern Kaushalya Attygalle writes that while these experiences hold many valuable lessons for our economic development, we must be cautious of drawing too close a parallel and in subscribing to particular models or processes. Yet, she stresses that some of the most valuable lessons we must take note of are consistency in economic policies and political commitment to reform and economic leadership, that countries like Malaysia displayed.

The ‘Talking Economics Digest’ is a bi-annual publication of the IPS, which compiles the articles featured on this blog every 6 months, together with a few additional ‘feature’ segments. As we distributed only a limited number of printed copies of the most recent volume of the Digest (July-December 2011), we publish an electronic copy of it here, for wider access.

Exactly a week ago the Executive Board of the World Bank announced that Dr. Jim Kim, the U.S. nominee, will be the new chief of the global development institution. The choice came as no surprise. However, for the first time in the sixty eight-year history of the Bretton Woods institution there was a contest for the top post. Anushka Wijesinha reviews the debates surrounding the suitability of Kim vs the emerging markets choice of Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, as the World Bank evolves its role and attempts to reform its governance.