PMD: The aim of the government is to create a critical Sri Lankan who is a global citizen to find out answers to modern and futuristic problems, State Minister of Higher Education Dr. Suren Raghavan said. “Internationalization of our higher education is a number one priority we have. We want to infuse the international standards to our universities so by at least 2030 Sri Lanka universities will be respected universities in the region, if not in the world.” The State Minister said. The government would facilitate overseas Sri Lankan scholars to travel to Sri Lanka and engage in university lecturing in state universities while on vacation or sabbatical as a measure to encourage their involvement in higher education. “In this method, we are creating a mechanism so that at least ten Diaspora members will engage in teaching in the 17 government universities in Sri Lanka, which will inculcate their professionalism and experience with our government universities.” He expressed these views two days ago (14) during a press conference themed ‘Collective Path to a Stable Country’ held at the Presidential Media Center (PMC). Meanwhile discussions are underway with three prominent international universities to open their branches in Sri Lanka, he added. “Sri Lanka has always poised to be one of the best hubs for education. South Indian market alone; Kerala, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana is going to have 350 million populations by 2030 and their economy is growing. Where will they go to fulfill their educational needs? It is easy for them to come to Colombo than go to Delhi. We need to look at that market.” State Minister of Higher Education Dr. Suren Raghavan said. Further, the government has held non regulatory discussions with tuition teachers requesting them to provide their set of recommendations and guidelines to regularize the quality of the private tuition education and the safety of students attending these classes, the State Minister added. “The Advanced Level tuition market is 65 billion. Tuition teachers, parents A/L students are all citizens of this country. So this is a citizen to citizen understanding they have to do. Why should the government get involved?” the State Minister said. Dr. Raghavan also emphasized the importance of understanding the 21st century’s human rights and added that it is the responsibility of the state is to provide higher education to every student who wants to pursue higher education.