From left: Skills Development and Vocational Training Ministry Secretary P. Ranepura, KOICA Sri Lanka Office Country Director Lee Dong Ku and External Resources Department Director General Priyantha Rathnayake at the agreement signing

Ocean University of Sri Lanka, the first ever state university for maritime and ocean sciences is going to be upgraded under the financial and technical assistance by the Republic of Korea.
A grant of US$2.5 million will be made by Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) to formulate the master plan for upgrading Ocean University and build the capacities of the academics of the university.

The agreement between the two countries for the project was signed by KOICA Sri Lanka Office Country Director Lee Dong Ku, Skills Development and Vocational Training Ministry Secretary P. Ranepura and External Resources Department Director General Priyantha Rathnayake. The Skills Development and Vocational Training Minister Chandima Weerakkody also attended 
the event.

As an island nation in the Indian Ocean, Sri Lanka is blessed with many oceanic resources such as fish and marine species, beautiful beaches, minerals, and petroleum. Currently, the country owns 517,000 square-kilometres of exclusive economic zone and is in the process of expanding 
its boundaries. 

By addressing the need for a specialized higher educational institute for maritime and ocean sciences, the Government of Sri Lanka established the Ocean University in 2015 replacing the National Institute of Fisheries Nautical Engineering (NIFNE) and sought the financial and technical assistance from the Republic of Korea, one of the leading economies in the world that has well developed blue economy, to upgrade the capacities of the University. In response to Sri Lanka government’s request, KOICA extensively analyzed various factors such as status and development potential of oceanic industries and their contribution to the national economy, their forward and backward linkages, the stakeholders’ interests and the future market expansion as a whole in several feasibility studies, and then prioritized the areas for principal support in accordance with Sri Lankan government’s policies for economic growth, employment creation and increasing the foreign 
exchange earnings.

This project includes a master plan for upgrading Ocean University and capacity building programme for academics and government officials of Sri Lanka. Korean experts will provide the technical expertise for the master plan development process which includes formulating the academic development road map, developing curriculum for suggested academic programmes, and determine equipment plan coupled with the concept drawing for the university. Further, post graduate study opportunities for the academic staff and short term training programmes for government official will be provided under the capacity building programme.