Minister of Higher Education, S. B. Dissanayake recently declared that the degree programme offered by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka (CA Sri Lanka) will help realize Sri Lanka’s ambitious aim of becoming a knowledge hub in the Asian region.
Addressing students, academics and professionals at the ceremonial launch of the CA Sri Lanka Bachelor of Science in Applied Accounting, the Minister said that today there is a massive mismatch in the demand and supply in higher education opportunities available in the country and therefore the CA Sri Lanka degree will help gap this growing dearth.
“A total of 6705 students obtained 3As in the commerce stream but only about 4000 students got opportunity to enter university, thereby creating a massive gap in the higher education opportunities in our country,” he noted.
Minister Dissanayake emphasized that more than eight percent of the 233,000 students who sat for the GCE advanced level examination could not find suitable institutions in the country to pursue their higher education.
“There is a considerable unmet demand in the higher education sector which needs to be addressed. In such a scenario its commendable that CA Sri Lanka is coming forward and offering a recognized degree for our students. This will also provide a solution to the severe drain in foreign exchange impacting our country, due to a significant number of Sri Lankan students spending vast amounts of money on higher studies in foreign countries due to limited opportunities in our country,” he added.
Minister Dissanayake also recommended CA Sri Lanka to propagate their degree in applied accounting for students living outside Sri Lanka, specially in the Asian region. “Encourage students from other countries to come and follow this degree, and this will help our aim of making Sri Lanka a knowledge hub,” he added.
The degree which has been approved by the University Grants Commission will commence in June this year.
CA Sri Lanka is the only institute at present offering a professional qualification and a degree in the country.
The institute is one of the largest tertiary education providers in Sri Lanka outside the university system with a massive student population of over 41,000 students who are currently studying the institute’s globally recognized professional qualification in chartered accountancy.
The Institute boasts of an impressive membership comprising of 4300 fully qualified chartered accountants, a majority of who play a leading role in the country’s corporate world often in the capacity of chairmen, managing directors, chief executive officers, chief financial officers and directors.
Accounting is one of the world’s most successful professions and unlike other degree programmes offered by both local and foreign universities, the hallmark of the CA Sri Lanka degree programme in applied accounting guarantees to create employable graduates required by the industry.
