Sri Lanka emerging hub in Asia for Customs, Excise studies

By Cheranka Mendis

Conglomerate Laugfs Holdings took its first step into the knowledge sector yesterday launching a regional campus under the name Laugfs Australia Higher Education Service Private Limited (LAHES) under which the Centre for Customs and Excise Studies of the University of Canberra, Australia will offer its qualifications.

Moving away from the standard university programmes for locals, the new venture will cater to students in the region supporting the government’s plans of making Sri Lanka a knowledge hub under the Mahinda Chinthanaya — way forward vision of making Sri Lanka the Wonder of Asia.   Being first of its kind in Asia to offer courses in English it will also host students from the region.

LAHS which will be located on the 22nd floor of World Trade Centre will be a state-of-the-art campus offering award programmes through the University of Canberra’s Centre for Customs and Excise Studies (CCES). CCES is said to be the world’s leading provider of training and education in the highly specialised area of border management, tax and excise administration. The plan is to make the campus a fully fledged education institute in the country.

Apart from Australia, CCES has campuses in Thailand, Jordan and Kenya. Thailand and Jordan campuses conduct courses in native language whilst Kenya offers in English.

“We have selected Sri Lanka to conduct courses in English for not only South Asia but for entire Asian region,” CCES Chief Executive and Professor David Widdowson said.

Laugfs Chairman W.K.H. Wegapitiya stated that that the launch was a memorable one and one that would help achieve dreams of many Sri Lankan parents who want to give the best education to their children. “Education has been an integral part in the Sri Lankan system. Every parent dreams of giving the best to their children,” he said. He reminded that history records Sri Lanka to be a centre of excellence owning world class libraries etc. among the other countries in the region.

“We had knowledge in ancient hydraulic civilisation, architecture and other disciplines,” said

Wegapitiya.  He also stated that the private sector involvement in higher education must increase in the future. “We expect the government to provide free education in the country. At Laugfs we believe that the private sector should contribute as well for to this endeavour as the government alone cannot create the needed facilitation to improve our education system.” The private sector must understand and involve themselves in the endeavour and do their maximum to support the future direction under Mahinda Chinthanaya, he said.

Adjunct Professor from CCES University of Canberra Steve Hollow claimed that education was one of the leading export sources in the world and that such mergers will only stabilize the fact that higher education too has been driven by globalisation to provide flexible modes of delivery in education. He stated that according to UNESCO reports, two and a half million persons move freely across countries for higher education purposes and that this number will soon reach seven million within the next few years. “Universities are all over. Qatar, Singapore and the UAE have been openly promoting internationalisation as a part of their education. President Rajapaksa is doing the same here. Creation of such a [knowedge] hub would be central to the transformation of the Sri Lankan economy,” Hollow said.

He asserted that there was a huge unmatched demand for higher education and it is now the opportunity for the private sector to involve itself and bridge the financial gap required. “30% of the global education is private and is considered as one of the fastest growing markets in the country.” He mentioned that the private sector involvement in higher education was increasingly expanding in countries such as India, Japan, Korea and Philippines as well as Brazil and Mexico.

Professor David Widdowson stated that Sri Lanka was indeed emerging as a leader in the region in sectors which include knowledge and education. He stated that customs, which if often not recognised as a profession was much more than just bag checking and involves a complex organisation of supply chain security, trade facilitation, increasing the complexities of the global trading arena.

The Campus in Sri Lanka will have a high tech computer centre where students will receive a free email account and access to the Australian learning portal upon registration. Faculty members will be from the CCES University of Canberra. A blended approach of teaching is to be used which would include video conferencing, computer based training, online sessions, assignments, exams and face to face teaching.