Sri Lanka's university system is crippled by a severe shortage of lecturers.

Professor Prageeth Weerathunga, President of the Federation of University Teachers' Associations (FUTA), points out that Sri Lanka's state university system is currently facing a severe shortage of lecturers. For the successful functioning of the system, approximately 12,000 to 13,000 permanent lecturers and about 4,000 temporary lecturers are required. However, by the end of 2023, only around 6,800 permanent lecturers were in service.

As universities are operating with only about half of the total required staff, the quality of higher education as well as vocational training is at serious risk.

The required teacher-student ratios vary for different courses; for management faculties, there should be one lecturer for every 18 students, and for information technology faculties, one lecturer for every 10 students. Furthermore, in specialized fields such as dental and veterinary medicine, it is mandatory to have one lecturer for every five students. However, these standards cannot be maintained due to approximately 20 to 30 lecturers leaving service almost every month. The most severe loss in this crisis is that while most new recruits to the system are probationary trainees with first-class passes or master's degrees, those leaving are senior academics with many years of experience and high qualifications.

Professor Weerathunga emphasizes that at least 8,000 permanent lecturers are required to maintain the university system at a minimum level. Although government approval was granted last year to recruit approximately 1,400 individuals to fill vacancies, only about 48% to 49% of these positions have been filled. While some universities have filled 70% of their vacancies, others have only managed to fill a very minimal percentage, such as 15%. A major reason for this is the lack of qualified applicants for medical, science, and technology sectors. The only change that has occurred is the transfer of lecturers from universities in difficult provinces to urban universities, rather than new recruitments.

Lack of facilities, absence of incentives, and government tax policies have contributed to lecturers leaving the country and moving to the private sector. They are subjected to a high tax of up to 36% on their earned income, and even the 20% allowance given for research encouragement is taxed, which has caused them severe hardship. Additionally, another problem is that the independent power universities previously had to recruit new staff immediately when a lecturer retired or resigned has now been placed under the Department of Management Services. As a result, approval for these recruitments takes several months, further delaying the filling of vacancies.

Despite the current difficult circumstances, the university system continues to operate, but authorities have been warned that its long-term impact could be very severe. The quality of degrees offered, especially in professional-level courses, cannot be prevented from deteriorating. Although this setback in the education sector may not be immediately apparent, it will become clearly evident in the standard of graduates released into society by universities in the coming years. Due to this long-term crisis, Sri Lanka is already lagging in imparting global knowledge and modern skills to students, which directly hinders the future development path of the entire nation.