The 2027 Budget allocates Rs 450 million as a first instalment towards fully equipped medical faculty and clinical buildings at the Universities of Peradeniya and Wayamba, a project costed at Rs 8 billion in total.
President Anura Kumara Dissanayake set out the higher education allocations in Thursday’s Budget speech, Hiru News reported.
Building works across nine universities
A separate Rs 2,250 million is allocated for academic and infrastructure development, covering a science faculty building at Eastern University; laboratory complexes with computing and research facilities at Ruhuna and Sabaragamuwa; the allied health sciences faculty at Jaffna; commerce, management studies and science faculty buildings at Kelaniya; a laboratory complex at Rajarata; and multipurpose buildings for the management faculties at Uva Wellassa and Colombo.
Student welfare
Rs 6,250 million goes to student welfare work already under way. Within that, Rs 717 million covers upgrading hostel facilities at the Hardy Advanced Technological Institute and the Universities of Moratuwa and Sri Jayewardenepura; drinking water and sanitation at Jaffna University’s Kilinochchi premises; and wastewater treatment systems at Sri Jayewardenepura, Eastern and Jaffna.
A Rs 2,050 million official housing project for academic and non-academic staff at Vavuniya University is proposed to begin in 2027.
Cyclone Ditwah damage
Damage to University of Peradeniya infrastructure from Cyclone Ditwah has been estimated at Rs 6,150 million. The Budget allocates Rs 700 million in 2027 for repairs at Peradeniya and other cyclone-damaged higher education institutions — a fraction of the estimate for Peradeniya alone.
Private higher education loans
Around 42,000 students enter state universities annually, but the President said limited capacity means many who qualify miss out. For those students, an existing interest-free loan scheme through state banks funds degrees at private higher education institutions. The monthly subsistence allowance for loan recipients is proposed to rise from Rs 6,250 to Rs 10,000, effective April 2027.
Sourcing note
This report rests on a single verified newsroom. The Daily Mirror’s sector breakdown lists only university academic and visiting lecturer allowances (Rs 2 billion) and does not cover these capital allocations.
Not reported
The filing does not give a completion date for the medical faculties, explain the gap between the Rs 6,150 million Ditwah estimate and the Rs 700 million allocated, or say how the repair funding is divided between institutions.
