The government plans to establish 50 vocational universities across the country within the next two years, in a major expansion of technical and vocational education aimed at strengthening the national workforce.
The Minister of Public Education announced the target, saying the network of new institutions would widen access to skills training and better align education with the needs of industry and the labour market.
The announcement builds on a policy direction set out earlier by President Anura Kumara Dissanayake, who stressed that greater priority must be given to strengthening Sri Lanka’s vocational education sector in parallel with the country’s broader education reforms. The President argued that technical and vocational pathways should be treated as an equal partner to conventional academic education rather than a secondary option.
Successive governments have identified skills mismatches and an over-reliance on university degrees as structural weaknesses in the labour market, with employers reporting shortages of trained technicians even as graduate unemployment persists.
Officials say the planned vocational universities are intended to help close that gap by producing job-ready graduates in trades, technology and applied fields, supporting the country’s longer-term economic transformation. Further details on funding, locations and the phasing of the roll-out are expected as the programme is finalised.
