Learning Centre

July 25, 2011 (LBO) - Sri Lanka's Laugfs group has started an educational facility with Australia's University of Canberra to offer courses on customs, border management, tax and excise administration, officials said.





LAUGFS Australia Higher Education Services, a unit of the Laugfs group has tied up up with Centre for Customs and Excise Studies (CCES) at the University of Canberra to start the courses.

Laugfs chairman W K H Wegapitiya said the group had decided to enter the education sector as government policy encouraged Sri Lanka to become a knowledge and shipping hub and the private sector could play a role in it.

Wegapitiya said the firm planned to set up fully fledged educational institution in the future that would attract students from the region.

Sri Lanka has broken a state monopoly in degree awarding and has a set up a framework to approve non-state institutions.

David Wilson from the (CCES) said providing higher education through providers in home countries as well as online education is one of fastest growing sectors in global education.

Delivery through affiliates in home countries improved access and lowered costs.

"Knowledge is increasingly a commodity that moves between countr