Sri Lanka expects second international branch campus

20/03/2024

Sri Lanka expects second international branch campus

The Indian Institute of Technology, Madras (IIT Madras) plans to open a branch campus in Sri Lanka in 2024. This follows the announcement made by Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe during his budget speech in November 2023, pledging to induct new branch campuses with international recognition into the Sri Lankan higher education market to enhance healthy competition in the sector and improve the overall quality.

Recently, the Sri Lankan State Minister of Technology visited IIT Madras along with a delegation of academic and industry leaders to develop a roadmap and finalise details of the proposed campus.

The campus will be located in Kandy, which is the central region of the country and known as an educational city where the country’s first university (the University of Peradeniya) was established. According to the Indian national higher education rankings, IIT Madras is the number one engineering institute in India. The 2024 QS rankings placed IIT Madras at 285^th place globally.

Based on the latest reports, the discussion is still at a preliminary stage. IIT Madras is expected to undertake a visit to Sri Lanka and carry out a feasibility study, following which it will submit a report to Sri Lanka’s University Grants Commission outlining the process and other necessary details of establishing the branch campus.

According to press reports, this initiative will be funded by the Sri Lankan government. It is believed that this collaboration will help in building capacity of its young population for a move towards digital economy.

British Council comments

Sri Lanka is transforming their approach to higher education to internationalise as well as address the high level of unmet demand of domestic students for higher education. Out of all students who qualify for the university education in Sri Lanka, only 23 per cent find a place in government public universities, while the rest have to find other alternatives. Around 60,000 young people per year enrol in private higher education institutions, while approximately 50 per cent of young people do not find access to quality higher education. As a result, Sri Lankan government is widely opening higher education sector to private investment and international collaborations/partnerships.

Collaboration with IIT Madras aligns with Sri Lanka’s aim to transform into a regional education hub and the government is actively engaging with overseas higher education institutions to encourage setting up of international branch campus in the country. The first international branch campus was set up in Colombo by Australia’s Edith Cowan University in August 2023. In addition to this, there are plans to open two more foreign universities in the country, which are believed to involve institutions in the US and the UK. IBC development in the country will be supported through new rules and regulations for regulating non-state universities in Sri Lanka and assuring quality and governance.

Through the IIT Madras branch campus, the government is looking to be able to provide engineering courses which are widely recognised and has stronger employment quotient at affordable fees such that students do not need to go overseas. This may also attract students from the region and India itself.

Such models will create tough competition for local private universities, TNE providers and other international branch campuses. UK and other international universities will need to particularly consider affordability aspect to stay competitive especially if IIT Madras is able to provide high quality education at an affordable cost.