Sri Lanka, agricultural education development project : final report 1979-1986

Graduate degree training was provided to 39 participants over the life of the project at three U.S. universities. Of these, 11 participants earned Ph.D. degrees, 26 earned both Ph.D. and M.Sc. degrees, and two earned M.Sc. degrees only. By project end, 23 participants had completed their studies and returned to the PGIA/FA and six others were in the final stages of their dissertations and expected to return by the end of 1986. However, ten participants left Sri Lanka for jobs elsewhere, a development which is symptomatic of the tremendous brain drain now affecting Sri Lankan institutions generally. Although not part of the original project agreement, short-term nondegree training was provided in various technical fields for five PGIA/FA staff members. In addition, the project provided 240.47 person months of long- and short-term TA to the PGIA/FA: visiting professors and other consultants taught courses, supervised participant research, participated in the design of new curricula and research projects, and worked in collaboration with senior PGIA/FA faculty. The project also procured technical and farm equipment and library materials for PGIA/FA use. Some of the participant attrition the project faced was due to the increasing Americanization of participants and more particularly their children during the five (or more) years they attended U.S. universities. Children of participants were in effect growing up as American children, and their ability in native Sinhalese and Tamil became poor, making it difficult for them to adjust to life in Sri Lanka. The experience of this project bears out, however, that (1) despite these problems participants still performed better when not separated from their families (in some cases families contributed to project goals as spouses earned their own graduate degrees) and (2) in-country dissertation research is an important way to both keep participants in touch with their country and ensure that their work is applicable to the problems their country must overcome. The project also teaches that institution building efforts like this one should also make an attempt to include senior faculty members in activities (as was done here) and that institutions such as the PGIA/FA need to provide adequate salaries and facilities to retain senior faculty.