SRI LANKANS OVERSEAS
PRIDE OF PLACE FOR EDUCATION AND RESEARCH
Dr. Nipuni Palliyaguru envisions a future in which STEM fields are duly recognised
Q: How do you perceive Sri Lanka today, in the context of the progress it is making in the post-war era?
A: I believe that having some level of political stability opens up many opportunities. There is great infrastructure development. However, it isn’t obvious whether the quality and standard of living has improved. There is a much more pronounced difference now, between urban and rural quality of life, than ever before.
In principle, we should have more resources to invest in education and research. However, the budget allocation for technology and research is insufficient. Although computer literacy is high and technology has advanced in certain areas, scientific literacy is low. There seems to be a heightened religious renaissance, which could be a good thing; but the lack of a parallel secular movement promotes pseudoscience.
Q: How do compatriots in the United States view Sri Lanka?
A: I come across a wide range of views. The majority have very little knowledge of Sri Lanka. And according to those who do, it is a war-trodden country with ethnic conflicts. Most of the time, I find myself having to change these stereotypical views.
Every once in a while, though, you come across globetrotters who admire Sri Lanka’s lovely beaches, flavourful food and compassionate people.
Q: What were your impressions of Sri Lanka, on your last visit here? And how much has it changed from the past?
A: The first impression was that there is extensive development. However, one also tends to notice that the large trees we had alongside the roads are missing. Colombo is a lot warmer than it was a few years ago. The clutter is still the same, and traffic is ever-increasing. The beautiful greenery that was visible as soon as you leave the city has disappeared.
I think we are concentrating on only one aspect of development, and completely ignored everything else.
Q: How do you view the phenomenon of brain drain – and why do you think there’s still no reversal of it?
A: It boils down to the lack of opportunities, and high-quality research and education. The West offers these; and of course, when you add the monetary benefits, people tend to leave.
However, there is a trend for people to return. I see a few programmes that are built for networking among people who plan on returning. So things could be changing for the better. But I would like to emphasise that this is taking place in the fields of business and marketing; the reversal of the brain drain in academia and research is still very low.
Q: So how can Sri Lankans living overseas be enticed to contribute or return to their country of birth?
A: There are so many Sri Lankans who have been extremely successful in their respective fields at the international level, but Sri Lanka is unaware of them. Giving them a platform to collaborate and work with Sri Lankans could prove to be mutually beneficial.
There are people who want to give back to the country, but are unable to do so as the platform doesn’t exist.
The requisites include more opportunities; funding to conduct research, for Sri Lankans working in the Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) fields; a better and more transparent recruitment process for employment; and a support system to integrate them back into the process. Public and private sector partnerships to support and fund research could help.
Q: In your opinion, what should Sri Lanka focus on most in the coming decade?
A: I think we need to foster a culture of research and innovation. We know, from the Industrial Revolution, that innovation drives the economy. Recently, India sent a low-cost satellite into space, to orbit around Mars. Regardless of its fiscal capacity, India did this because science and economic development go hand in hand.
We need to concentrate on STEM education, so that scientific literacy is improved. Moreover, we need to integrate science, technology and research into agriculture and other industries, to be competitive in global markets. For example, there are many herbal and medicinal plants in Sri Lanka, but very little research is undertaken to identify, characterise and quantify their effects.
I think we have the human capital, but lack the skills to make it happen. These could be gained though effective training programmes. By generating expertise, we could initiate international collaborations and partnerships, and drive those to our benefit. So I cannot stress enough on the importance of supporting and developing research in every field.
Q: What are your hopes for the country, in the post-conflict era?
A: People are trying to understand their ethnic and religious identities in the multicultural setting of Sri Lanka, in the post-conflict era. Even now, a lot of energy is being wasted on ethnic conflicts. It is important to channel this in a direction that would benefit all Sri Lankans, and make up for the time and energy lost.
I hope to see visionary leaders in every field, and professionalism being promoted in all jobs, regardless of their perceived importance. Education and research should be given primary importance. I hope these improvements can be made, while keeping our country green.
– LMD
I completely agree with the brain drain Dr. Palliyaguru is talking about. In Sri Lanka the educational system seems to be in turmoil due to the simple fact that there aren’t enough areas where students can specialise in. As mentioned earlier in the article, many of the globally oriented, highly skilled youth tend to leave the country in view of the persisting domestic economic and political uncertainties. Even if they do there aren’t enough career development opportunities to earn a good living. The field of psychology is a really good example. Sri Lanka remains in the top half of the world’s countries in terms of social and physical quality of life indicators and is now regarded as a middle income country which is able to handle developmental issues with its own resources. But if our resources keep relocating elsewhere with all their knowledge, where will the development be heading to, in the long run?
She has expressed herself as a true patriot on a crucial element that has not been addressed from previous overseas columnists. It is true that Sri Lankans abroad are willing to offer something of value to their motherland but are unable to do so, due to lack of suitable avenues and acceptability.
Another very important issue is that Sri Lanka’s research and innovation, often captured as R&D in statistics is a small fragment, often not surpassing one percent of the GDP. The current situation is that if we search for 200 research papers, not a single one is not from Sri Lanka.
Allies and partnerships with academia, research bodies and the commercial sector can be rewarding with mutual benefits for both parties.
New and broadened research findings can give rise to better strategies to be formed in state and private sectors. More think tanks and research bodies geared towards feasible research and a greener country are vital. At university level, lecturers should direct students, encouraging them to do research on their own interests. Currently, students are compelled to forgo their keen areas of research and take on what is comfortable to the lecturer. This practice is wrong. Rather, the teacher and student should develop ties, where both can contribute to R&D. This would see more visionary leaders in the commercial sector too.
If the academics negotiate an “academic allowance” of over 100 percent of their basic salary, and a “research allowance” of over 35 percent of their salary, each and every staff member is duty-bound by the tax paying public to honour their commitment. If the private sector is paying well, and academics cannot fulfil their commitments, why do they stay in their jobs then? As far as research and development is concerned, there is nobody but the academics who should be blamed more than the Government. Only a handful of academics make their presence worth and the rest enjoy the fun.
In countries like the US and Japan there are university-based researches done in every step of the higher education journey. Universities should be the cradle of research. Unfortunately our universities lack resources and funding. The budget allocations for these research activities are very minimal. But we cannot depend solely on the state alone. Private sector corporates can also play a major role. Corporate could collaborate with Universities. It could be for co-innovating and other areas. We should create a forum here for academia and business leaders to exchange ideas and collaborate. It could benefit all parties. Secondly our universities should collaborate with foreign universities. Currently there is a little bit of collaboration, but it should be in a big way to really benefit from it.
In the US and other countries there are State Research Institutions like NASA. It is unfortunate that we don’t have such institutions but the Luxman Kadhirgamar Research Institute is carrying out research activities in very small scale because of lack of funding. When we talk about technologies, even though basic IT skills are there, we are not on par with India or other developed nations. We have to prepare ourselves for tomorrow’s technologies.
The State should create a conducive environment to foster Startups that could cultivate innovative ideas and put them into action.
For a research and innovation-based state, private and foreign collaboration is a must.
Sri Lanka does have state funding bodies like the former NARESA (now I believe it is the National Science Foundation, NSF) but what is lacking is the commitment from the academic fraternity. They are very comfortable with their position in society. You can hardly find an academic involved in research at 7 PM with research assistants in a university lab. Have you ever had any request from an academic from the country for a published article?
They don’t have access to all the journals within the country.
Nobody likes to talk about the truth, but they are very happy to pocket the so-called research allocation for the salary, and the vast majority doesn’t do any justice to the public who bear the brunt to pay the lot. Some heads of departments unashamedly engage in only A/L tuition even though they are paid by the tax payer to set the same A/L exam papers.
How many actively engage in writing a grant proposal? Even when Sri Lankan academics living abroad contact academics within the country, academics across the board generally show a lukewarm attitude to collaborate. Commitment to collaborate is inversely proportional to the amount of work requested.
Dishonesty, non-commitment, and superiority control them and it results in poor show in the country’s scientific development.
Well done to this young lady for her part in the discovery of gravitational waves. Hopefully, the gravitas of such work has the potential to take science a notch ahead in the country, but we all have to pay our cards right.
We cannot solely blame our academia for this situation. Our private sector C-level executives are getting disproportionate salaries and perks. But our academia are not even getting one third of it. Our teams from Moratuwa University have won so many international innovation awards. If given the right platform and funds our academia also would do well.