Ms Naoko Ishii
World Bank Country Director
Sri Lanka Speech at the QEF Grant Awards Ceremony - Batch 3 Quality Enhancement Fund: Batch Three for the Arts and Social Science Faculties and Sri Lanka Institute for Advanced Technical Education Prof. Wiswa Warnapala, The Hon.Minister of Higher Education
Mrs. Malini Peiris, Secretary, Ministry of Higher Education,
Prof. Gamini Samaranayake, Chairman, UGC,
Prof. LL Ratnayake, Director, IRQUE,
Senior officials from the Universities and the Sri Lanka Institute of Advanced Technical Education.
Distinguished Guests
Ladies and Gentlemen Good morning.
Thank you for the invitation to join you today as the third round of the Quality Enhancement Fund awards are granted. I am happy to learn that in the previous two rounds a total of twenty seven awards have been made to degree programs in engineering, the sciences, medicine and a few in the arts. The concept of a Quality Enhancement Fund to support strategic development activities is growing in popularity across the world. Countries as diverse as Chile, India, Vietnam, Ghana, Bangladesh, Bolivia, Nepal and Indonesia have introduced Quality Enhancement Funds to develop their higher education systems. Thus we see how all over the world countries are meeting the demand for workers with a sound tertiary education. This demand is growing as more value is placed on the knowledge worker. New growth theories have demonstrated that there is a correlation between the intellectual capital of a country and its economic performance. Today we see at every turn how this intellectual capital is highly prized by high performing countries and its organizations to gain a competitive edge in the global market. Research and development (R&D), knowledge creation and fertilization, innovation in product design are now universally considered to be the vital determinants of this intellectual capital. Universities are the breeding grounds for this intellectual capital and today the awards from the Quality Enhancement Fund is providing resources based on the proposals submitted for study programs that will build this capital in you.  The strength and value of the Fund and its parent body the “Improving Relevance and Quality of Undergraduate Education (IRQUE) Project lies in its commitment to make an effective contribution to the development of Sri Lanka. The World Bank was very happy to meet the request by the Ministry of Higher Education and the University Grants Commission to make this third round of the Quality Enhancement Fund awards be limited to the Arts and Social Science Faculties, and for the Sri Lanka Institute of Advanced Technical Education. The two faculties were under-represented in the original allocations, and the Sri Lanka Institute of Advanced Technical Education has not received any assistance from the project thus far, while potentials of those sections of higher education circle are enormous. I also take pleasure in informing you that under the recently approved Country Assistance Strategy for Sri Lanka there is an opportunity to continue to support the Higher Education sector, after the current IRQUE project closes at the end of 2009. From 2010 onwards, the World Bank would be able to provide financial assistance through a new Higher Education Project, provided there is satisfactory performance under the current project and a good framework is prepared for the new operation for Sri Lanka to solidify its status as full fledged middle income country with knowledge based economy. In closing let me thank you for again for inviting me and I would like to congratulate the winners and wish them the best in their research undertakings.                                                                     | 
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