Prof. G. H. Peiris appointed as the Chancellor of Peradeniya University.

Professor G.H. Peiris has been appointed as the Chancellor of the University of Peradeniya.

He received his letter of appointment from President Gotabaya Rajapaksa at the President’s House today (06), the PMD reported.

Mr. G.H. Peiris received his Degree of Bachelor of Arts in Geography with a First Class Honours from the University of Peradeniya in 1960 and he received his doctoral degree (Economic Geography) from the University of Cambridge, UK in 1965.

He was first appointed to the University of Peradeniya as an Assistant Lecturer and has been a University Lecturer for 44 years.

Prof. G.H. Peiris is an expert who has done much research regarding political changes that took place in various parts of the world.

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The Times Higher Education Impact Rankings - 2022.

The Times Higher Education Impact Rankings are the only global performance tables that assess universities against the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). We use carefully calibrated indicators to provide comprehensive and balanced comparison across four broad areas: research, stewardship, outreach and teaching.

The 2022 Impact Rankings is the fourth edition and the overall ranking includes 1,406 universities from 106 countries/regions.

The overall ranking is topped by an Australian institution: Western Sydney University.

In second place is the US’s Arizona State University and third is Western University in Canada.

Source: www.timeshighereducation.com

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University of Vavuniya declared open under President’s patronage.

The University of Vavuniya, with a centre for co-existence, was declared open by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa on Friday 11 February 2022 making it the 17th national university in the country.

The university has a capacity of enlisting around 1000 students at each intake. It is also the first university in the Vanni district.

University Grants Commission (UGC) Chairman Sampath Amaratunge said one of the special features at the university will be the centre for co-existence aimed at promoting ethnic harmony.

The centre will be under former Jaffna University Vice Chancellor Vasanthy Arasaratnam. She will be the director of the centre.

The centre will be able to obtain UN funding as well and can focus on research for reconciliation instead of developing only cultural programmes, she said.

Similar centres will also be set up in other universities.

The faculties of Business Studies, Technology Studies, Environmental Science and Health Science will be launched initially.

The University of Vavuniya was first established as a Northern Province Affiliated University College in 1991 and subsequently the Vavuniya Campus of the University of Jaffna was established on April 1, 1997 with two faculties, namely the Faculty of Applied Science and the Faculty of Business Studies.

In 2020, the Faculty of Technological Studies was also established. All three faculties offer 12 degree programmes of three and four year duration at present.

Source: www.sundaytimes.lk

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Mathematician Nikhil Srivastava selected for inaugural Ciprian Foias Prize.

Indian-origin mathematician Prof. Nikhil Srivastava, who teaches at the University of California, Berkeley, has been jointly selected for the inaugural Ciprian Foias Prize by American Mathematical Society (AMS).

The Ciprian Foias Prize in Operator Theory is awarded for notable work in Operator Theory published during the preceding six years.

Prof. Srivastava will receive the prize along with Prof. Adam Marcus and Prof. Daniel Spielman.

Source: www.theaustraliatoday.com.au

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Cambridge Dictionary names 'perseverance' Word of the Year 2021.

The word "Perseverance" has been looked up more than 243,000 times on the Cambridge Dictionary Website and named as the Word of the Year in 2021.

Defined by the dictionary as ‘continued effort to do or achieve something, even when this is difficult or takes a long time’, the word’s stellar performance this year may have as much to do with NASA as the pandemic. A spike of 30,487 searches for perseverance occurred between 19–25 February 2021, after NASA’s Perseverance Rover made its final descent to Mars on 18 February. 

Cambridge Dictionary is the top website in the world for learners of English, and perseverance is not a common word for students of English to have in their vocabulary. We often see spikes in lookups of words associated with current events when those words are less familiar.”

In the following months, however, perseverance continued to be looked up more frequently on the site than ever before. 

Further evidence that words looked up on Cambridge Dictionary often reflect world events is that in January searches for insurrection, impeachment, inauguration and acquit all spiked as the world closely followed the US presidential election. 

In 2020, ‘quarantine’ defeated 'lockdown' and 'pandemic' to be crowned Word of the Year, attracting more than 183,000 views.

Source: www.cam.ac.uk

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QS World University Rankings 2022.

QS (Quacquarelli Symonds) has released the 2022 QS World University Rankings. 

The ranking has been topped by the National University of Singapore (NUS) for the 4th year in a row. 

It is followed by China’s Peking University at 2nd position and Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, and the University of Hong Kong in Hong Kong at 3rd.

Source: www.topuniversities.com

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Russian, Chinese hold first joint patrols in the Pacific.

Russian and Chinese warships held their first joint patrols in the western Pacific Ocean over the past week, Russia's defence ministry said on Saturday 23 October 2021, a move Japan said it was monitoring.

Moscow and Beijing, which staged naval cooperation drills in the Sea of Japan earlier in October, have cultivated closer military and diplomatic ties in recent years at a time when their relations with the West have soured.

The naval manoeuvres, which Russia said ran from Sunday through Saturday, have been closely watched by Japan, which said earlier in the week that a group of 10 vessels from China and Russia sailed through the Tsugaru Strait separating Japan's main island and its northern island of Hokkaido.

Source: www.reuters.com

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The Global Food Security Index - 2021.

The Global Food Security Index (GFSI) considers the issues of food affordability, availability, quality and safety, and natural resources and resilience across a set of 113 countries. The index is a dynamic quantitative and qualitative benchmarking model constructed from 58 unique indicators that measure the drivers of food security across both developing and developed countries.

This edition of the GFSI incorporates the "Natural Resources and Resilience" category into the main index. This category assesses a country’s exposure to the impacts of a changing climate; its susceptibility to natural resource risks; and how the country is adapting to these risks, all of which impact the incidence of food insecurity in a country. The category was first introduced into the GFSI in 2017 as an adjustment factor and, given its increasing importance, has been mainstreamed for the first time this year.

The 2021 GFSI is the tenth edition of the index. Economist Impact updates the model annually to capture year-on-year changes in structural factors impacting food security.

According to the report, Sri Lanka held 77th position with an overall score of 54.1 points on the GFS Index 2021 of 113 countries. Other South Asian countries hold below given indexes.

• Pakistan (75th position)
• India (71st Position), 
• Nepal (79th position) 
• Bangladesh (84th position). 

According to the report, World's Top 10 countries are;

Source: https://impact.economist.com

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Girls excluded as Afghan secondary schools reopen.

The Taliban have excluded girls from Afghan secondary schools, with only boys and male teachers allowed back into classrooms.

Schoolgirls told the BBC they were devastated not to be returning. "Everything looks very dark," one said.

Taliban officials who seized power last month said they were working to reach a decision on the matter.

Many fear a return of the regime of the 1990s when the Taliban severely restricted girls' and women's rights.

Under their new government, Taliban officials have said that women will be allowed to study and work in accordance with the group's interpretation of Islamic religious law.

But working women have been told to stay at home until the security situation improves, and Taliban fighters have beaten women protesting against the all-male interim government.

On Friday (17th), the Islamist group appeared to have shut down the women affairs ministry and replaced it with a department that once enforced strict religious doctrines.

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UNICEF stresses Afghan girls must not be excluded from school.

The UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) on Friday (17th) welcomed the news that secondary schools are due to reopen in Afghanistan on Saturday, after months of closure due to COVID-19, but stressed that girls must not be kept from the classroom.

According to news reports, the announcement of school reopening from the Taliban, referred only to the return of boys, making no reference to a return date for girls.  

Acccording to the UNICEF every day that girls miss out on education is a missed opportunity for them, their families and their communities.

UNICEF is urging development partners to support education “for all children” in Afghanistan.

UNICEF will continue to advocate with all actors so that all girls and boys have an equal chance to learn and develop the skills they need to thrive and build a peaceful and productive Afghanistan.

Source: https://news.un.org

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World University Rankings 2022.

The Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2022 include more than 1,600 universities across 99 countries and territories, making them the largest and most diverse university rankings to date.

The table is based on 13 carefully calibrated performance indicators that measure an institution’s performance across four areas: teaching, research, knowledge transfer and international outlook.

This year’s ranking analysed more than 108 million citations across over 14.4 million research publications and included survey responses from almost 22,000 scholars globally. Overall, we collected over 430,000 datapoints from more than 2,100 institutions that submitted data.

The University of Oxford tops the ranking for the sixth consecutive year.

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QS Rankings of the World’s Best Student Cities 2022.

QS Quacquarelli Symonds is a London-based company that specializes in analysis of global higher education and rankings of different types of academic programs.

The QS Best Student Cities Ranking combines independent data about a range of factors important to college students: affordability, quality-of-life, the standard of universities, and the views of previous students who have studied in that location.

This year’s ranking is once again topped by London. Home to several leading universities, including UCL (University College London), Imperial College London, and King's College London, the city has been a student favourite for years and has plenty of world-class academic institutions for students to choose from.

Accordingly, QS Top Ten Student Cities Worldwide

• 1.London
• 2.Munich
• 3.Seoul and Tokyo (tied)
• 5.Berlin
• 6.Melbourne
• 7.Zurich
• 8.Sydney
• 9.Paris (tied)
• 9.Montreal (tied)
• 9.Boston (tied)

Source: www.topuniversities.com

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China's first green sheep-farming city in ecological push.

Xilingol League, north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, became the country's first green sheep-farming city thanks to its efforts in grassland ecological protection and green sheep farming. The honor was rolled out by China Meat Association during a summit on green sheep farming held in XilinHot on July 19, 2021, according to The Publicity Department of Xilingol.

The recognition will become another signature brand for Xilingol League to build a green animal products production, processing and export base, marking a new solid step in the high-quality development of the region's animal husbandry.

Attendees visited several leading ranches to get a glimpse of the pure natural and pollution-free growth environment of Xilingol sheep, while learning about its quality management throughout the whole process by visiting standardized mutton deep processing and central kitchen project of leading local meat firm Grand Farm.

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QS World University Rankings - 2022.

Featuring 1,300 universities from around the world, this year's university rankings are largest ever. 

The QS World University Rankings continue to enjoy a remarkably consistent methodological framework, compiled using six simple metrics that believe effectively capture university performance. 

Since faculty area normalisation was introduced in 2015 to ensure that institutions specialising in Life Sciences and Natural Sciences were not unduly advantaged and have avoided fundamental changes. 

In doing so, it's aim to ensure that year-on-year comparisons remain valid, and that unnecessary volatility is minimised.

Thus, universities continue to be evaluated according to the following six metrics:

• Academic Reputation
• Employer Reputation
• Faculty/Student Ratio
• Citations per faculty
• International Faculty Ratio
• International Student Ratio

Accordingly, top 10 Universities in the world. 

• 1. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
• 2. University of Oxford
• =3. Stanford University
• =3. University of Cambridge
• 5. Harvard University
• 6. California Institute of Technology (Caltech)
• 7. Imperial College London
• =8. ETH Zurich - Swiss Federal Institute of Technology
• =8. UCL-London,United Kingdom
• 10. University of Chicago

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Centre for World University Rankings 2021-22 announced.

The Center for World University Rankings (CWUR) publishes the only academic ranking of global universities that assesses the quality of education, alumni employment, quality of faculty, and research performance without relying on surveys and university data submissions.

CWUR uses seven objective and robust indicators grouped into four areas to rank the world’s universities:

1). Quality of Education, measured by the number of a university's alumni who have won major academic distinctions relative to the university's size (25%)

2). Alumni Employment, measured by the number of a university's alumni who have held top executive positions at the world's largest companies relative to the university's size (25%)

3). Quality of Faculty, measured by the number of faculty members who have won major academic distinctions (10%)

4). Research Performance:

• Research Output, measured by the the total number of research papers (10%)
• High-Quality Publications, measured by the number of research papers appearing in top-tier journals (10%)
• Influence, measured by the number of research papers appearing in highly-influential journals (10%)
• Citations, measured by the number of highly-cited research papers (10%)

Accordingly, 19,788 institutions were ranked, and those that placed at the top made the global 2000 list. Harvard University has topped the ranking globally followed by Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Stanford University, University of Cambridge, and Oxford University respectively.

As many as 02 Sri Lankan universities have made it to the list of the top 2000 higher education institutes across the world, as per the Centre for World University Rankings (CWUR) 2021-22. 

ThoseSri Lankan Universities are;

• Global Rank 1600: University of Peradeniya
• Global Rank 1675: University of Ruhuna

Top 10 Ranked Universities are;

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Ranking of World Universities 2020 published.

The 2020 Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU) is released by ShanghaiRanking Consultancy. 

Since 2003, ARWU has been presenting the world top universities annually based on transparent methodology and objective third-party data. It has been recognized as the precursor of global university rankings and the most trustworthy one.

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100 million more children fail basic reading skills because of Current Global Pandemic.

A new study released on Friday 26 March 2021 by the UN cultural agency, reveals that more than 100 million more children than expected, are falling behind the minimum proficiency level in reading, due to current pandemic related school closures.  

According to the study from the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), One year into pandemic: Prioritizing education recovery to avoid a generational catastrophe, even before the pandemic the number of children lacking basic reading skills was on a downward curve. 

In 2020, instead of 460 million children experiencing reading difficulties, that number jumped to 584 million. The rise of more than 20 per cent, wiped out two decades of education gains, the agency said.  

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Apple announces education funding under racial justice plan.

Apple has announced it's $ 100 Million initiative funding for technology education efforts as part of its racial justice initiative launched last year during the civil unrest sparked by police killings of African Americans.

The projects include a global innovation and learning hub for historically Black colleges and universities across the United States, and an Apple developer academy to support coding and tech education for students in Detroit.

Apple will also include venture capital funding for minority entrepreneurs as part of its Racial Equity and Justice Initiative.

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US Congress Passes 'Malala Yousafzai Scholarship Act' for Pakistani Women.

The US Congress has passed the 'Malala Yousafzai Scholarship Act' which will expand the number of scholarships available to Pakistani women to receive higher education under a merit and needs-based programme. Passed by the House of Representatives in March 2020, the bill was passed by the United States Senate by a voice vote on January 01. 

The bill now heads to the White House for US President Donald Trump to sign into law.

The bill requires the US Agency for International Development to award at least 50 per cent of scholarships under a Pakistan-based higher education scholarship programme to Pakistani women, from 2020 to 2022, across a range of academic disciplines and in accordance with existing eligibility criteria. The bill also requires USAID to consult with and leverage investments by the Pakistani private sector and Pakistani diaspora in the United States to improve and expand access to education programmes in Pakistan.

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Dhammika Perera launches DP Digital University free online learning platform.

Dhammika Perera launches DP Digital University free online learning platform.

• Delivers free access to online learning platform for school students, graduates and professionals
• Extensive library of over 8,000 courses are now available
• Links world-renowned universities such as Harvard and Cambridge offering free courses

Extending higher education facilities designed to enhance employability and opportunity for Sri Lankan youth, philanthropists Dhammika Perera and Priscilla Perera launched DP Digital University, a free online education portal that offers an extensive portfolio of courses from reputed universities and institutions across the world.

Marking an unprecedented milestone in Sri Lankan higher education, the new platform will provide access to over 8,000 courses from over 55 world-renowned universities including Harvard, Cambridge, MIT, IBM and Monash.

Most importantly, majority of these courses are provided totally free of charge for self-learning at your own pace and will be available for every Sri Lankan to access remotely, irrespective of their economic and social statuses.

“For Sri Lanka to reach its fullest potential, it is imperative that our people are equipped with the knowledge and training necessary to take up critical roles in the national workforce. With the launch of this initiative our goal is to democratize education for all Sri Lankans, so that they in turn can empower and enrich themselves, and our nation,” a spokesperson for Dhammika and Priscilla Perera Foundation said.

DP Digital University offers students free courses covering a broad spectrum of subjects from Accounting & Finance, Business Management, Computer Science, Engineering, to Health & Medicine, Human Resource Management and 40 other categories.

Sharing her learning experience of the digital platform, Nethmi T. Wijesinghe, a student of ‘The Strategy of Content Marketing’ online course offered by the University of California, Davis said - “I enjoyed the online courses I found through DP Digital University as it was exciting and I could work on it at my own pace. It is a great opportunity for self-motivated people to explore and learn new subjects.”

Another student Shithila Mahabaduge who followed the ‘Fibonacci Numbers and the Golden Ratio’ course at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology expressed her gratitude to the foundation for providing her with the opportunity to follow her intellectual curiosity and complete a fascinating course which would not have otherwise been easily accessible.

“I recently completed my A/Ls, and I have been following courses on DP Digital University in my free time to enhance my knowledge in preparation for my higher studies,” Dinuk Peiris a student of ‘Introduction to Marketing’ course offered by the University of Pennsylvania said.

DP Digital University is the latest in a series of initiatives from DP Education that leverages digital platforms to deliver free education to empower a new generation of Sri Lankan school and university students, as well as professionals.

The foundation also recently launched DP Kids, another breakthrough platform that provides free access to pre-school education to over 264,000 children between the ages of 2 and 7 years old, amounting to 20% of the 1.32 million children in Sri Lanka.

DP Education Maths, Science & English Academy are the other online free education platforms that are provided by Dhammika & Priscilla Perera Foundation.

For more information, visit the official DP Digital University website at www.dpuni.org or email info@dpfoundation.org.lk.

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