​14 September 2014

From 3 - 6 June 2013, the International Education and Science Division hosted a Sri Lankan Technical Assistance Tour led by Minister Mohan Lal Grero, the Monitoring MP for the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Skills Development. His delegation included representatives from the Ministry of Higher Education and a number of other key vocational education and training and higher education institutions.

The Technical Assistance Tour follows a visit by Dr Sunil Nawaratne, Secretary of the Ministry of Higher Education, in March 2012. During that visit Dr Nawaratne learnt about Australia’s experience developing, implementing and working within a qualifications framework. He then requested the facilitation of a technical assistance tour.

The delegation met with government officials and education stakeholders in Canberra and Melbourne. The tour was an opportunity to build knowledge and expertise of Australia’s quality systems for Sri Lanka’s own education sector development. This included gaining a deeper understanding of Australia’s technical vocational education and training and higher education systems, national regulation and quality assurance and national qualifications frameworks.

Australian representatives also had the opportunity to expand their understanding of the tertiary education system in Sri Lanka during presentations by the Sri Lankan delegation.

Education is central to the relationship between Sri Lanka and Australia. Australia is the most popular tertiary study destination for Sri Lankan students, of whom 5,582 were enrolled in Australia at December 2012. The tour therefore provided an opportunity to further strengthen links between the Australian and Sri Lankan governments and education stakeholders and to exchange experiences regarding education reform.

The Sri Lankan Technical Assistance Tour delegation members and departmental representatives at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology