The Island today salutes a daughter of Sri Lanka, Dr. Indira Samarasekera who has achieved the rare academic distinction of being appointed the President of Canada’s prestigious University of Alberta.

This is perhaps the first time that a Sri Lankan has been appointed as the head of a prestigious western university and its all the more creditable because it has been done by a woman.

For a people groping in the dark with little else in mind other than a search for peace, this is indeed news that will lift the spirits of the nation. Dr.Samaraekera’s achievement reveals the potential of the nation and what we could achieve if our people’s talents are permitted to blossom freely. Before her there were other academics of world renown like Prof. Cyril Ponnamperuma for his research on the origin of life at NASA and the Maryland University and Dr. Chandra Wickremasinghe who was associated with world famous astronomer Fred Hoyle for their theories on space.

Dr. Samarasekera is of a generation known not for academic distinction but for violence and revolutions that failed. Yet she had proceeded with her career regardless of the turmoil in the campuses at that time, having received her BSc honours in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Ceylon in 1974.

She has been awarded an MS in Mechanical Engineering from the University of California as a Fulbright Scholar and being also awarded a PhD in Metallurgical Engineering from the University of British Columbia. Her other academic laurels won in Canada are too numerous to be mentioned here.

What’s notable about her academic pursuits is that she is a committed researcher. A press release from her university states: ‘A renowned engineer Samarasekera bemoaned the level of research funding in the arts and humanities. " My education being an engineer was sadly lacking in humanities and social sciences cannot be understated. Well- rounded students are conversant in many disciplines. The university will educate leaders of tomorrow and will be positioned as a ‘ global think tank’.... The university is also an extraordinary journey.... It is a road marked by daring, discovery and distinction.’

Academics of our Sri Lankan universities are no doubt well acquainted with such thoughts but whether they have the inclination, the time or opportunity to attempt to bring such thoughts to fruition is indeed doubtful. The intellectual atmosphere in our campuses is far removed from the ideal of campuses in the west: of light. liberty and learning.

It is often argued that the atmosphere in campuses in any country cannot be different from the state of affairs prevailing in the country itself. But does it mean that Sri Lanka’s campuses should continue to be graduate producing factories, the products in the main being of little or no use to the country?

Campuses are being opened up with such regularity that a cynic remarks that they are as numerous as public toilets. Since the demand for higher education is tremendous, no doubt there is a demand for campuses such as the Uva campus that is to be opened in this most neglected province. It has been in such a pathetic state since the British devastated it about 200 years ago to suppress the Uva rebellion.

There is some sort of planning on the kind of education that should be imparted in such campuses but whether these objectives are realised is indeed in doubt. A basic reason for this state of the campuses is their politicisation. Some political parties use campuses as political nurseries for their activists. This is the reason why the campuses are more often closed than kept open.

It is time that not only our academics but political leaders as well thought on the lines of Dr.Samarasekera to make our campuses achieve the ideals of prestigious universities. During the period of the Renaissance in Europe great universities in Italy, France, Germany and Britain helped them to become the great nations they are, by providing original thinkers, inventors and the like. These universities continue in pursuing such traditions and Dr. Samarasekera has made it quire clear that those are her objectives too.

If Sri Lanka is ever to change from a poor developing country to a modern developed nation a primary requirement will be the elevation of our universities to such standards.

Many prevailing conditions have to be changed if we want our places of higher learning to move in the directions of such universities. One is obviously academic freedom without which free and independent thinking cannot exist.