Colombo, March 28; Knowledge accumulation is now treated as capital accumulation, Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickramanayaka said at the inaugural session of the SAARC Higher Education Ministers’ Conference held in Colombo. While facilitating this role SAARC countries have to face many common challenges. Conferences such as this will help us to work out common strategies. It would be good therefore for SAARC countries to come together at a single forum and work out methods of closer and greater collaboration, more sharing of knowledge and other resources, the Prime Minister noted. The SAARC region needs a development strategy based on a development oriented higher education policy so that its higher educational resources could be used for the betterment of the region. The universities in the SAARC region, with collaborative policies and strategies could make a contribution to economic growth by both generation and application of knowledge, Minister of Higher Education Prof.Warnapala said. What the SAARC region needs at this point of time is a comprehensive set of policies, focusing on the role of higher education. Such a set of policies, while taking cognizance of the global trends, need to be based on a SAARC strategy, Prof. Warnapala noted.

Source : Daily News, March 28