| South Asian Institute of Technology and Medicine | |
|---|---|
| SAITM | |
| Motto | Education with Character |
| Established | 2008 |
| Type | Private |
| President | Prof.Neville Fernando |
| Vice-Chancellor | Prof. Malkanthi Chandrasekera |
| Academic staff | 4 |
| Location | Malabe, Western Province, Sri Lanka |
| Campus | Main Campus 4 acres (Suburban) - Malabe |
| Colors | |
| Affiliations | University of Wolverhampton, University of Buckingham, Asian Institute of Technology, Nizhny Novgorod State Medical Academy |
| Website | www.saitm.edu.lk/ |
The South Asian Institute of Technology and Medicine (SAITM), formerly the South Asian Institute of Technology and Management, is a privately owned educational institution providing higher education in Sri Lanka.[1] It is the first private sector Green Campus to be established in the country.[2] It has run into controversy with regard to its facilities to award degrees and the validity and legality of the MBBS degrees it awards [1] [2].
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The South Asian Institute of Technology and Medicine was established by Dr. Neville Fernando, a Sri Lankan businessman and former politician. The initial investment was Rs. 800 million, but this had to be increased with the addition of a new block for the Teaching Hospital.[3] As a result, the investment for this was increased by a further Rs. 1200 million.[4] SAITM is open for academical objectives from January 2009.
The institute is situated in the city of Malabe, close to the capital Colombo. It is located in Sri Lanka's first IT park. The building construction was undertaken by the Sri Lankan engineering firm International Construction Consortium (ICC). The building itself is a 5 storied enclosure equipped with state-of-the-art infrastructure.
The South Asian Institute of Technology and Medicine was developed to provide university education to students who have successfully completed Advanced Level examinations, but are unable to attend state universities due to lack of facilities in them.[5]
Vision: To produce educated men and women of character and be the leading private sector higher education institution in the South Asian region.
The Higher Education Minister and the University Grants Commission (UGC) were criticised by the Government Medical Officers’ Association (GMOA) for offering degree awarding status to the South Asian Institute of Technology and Medicine.[6].
The Government Medical Officers Association (GMOA) has urged the ministry of health to find out how the institute could operate as a private medical university without obtaining the necessary government approvals [3]. The secretary to the GMOA queried as to why SAITM has failed to send its students to the Nizhny Novgorod State Medical Academy Russia as assured by the management at the beginning. He stated that “It was said that this course would be a twin programme where part of the lectures would be conducted in Sri Lanka and later the students would be sent to Russia for clinical training. Why are they not sending the students to Russia for clinical training as promised?” [4]. However, the director of the medical faculty of SAITM, Dr Sameera Senaratne said that SAITM is now awarded with the degree awarding status from the University Grants commission (The official, legal recognition by the required authority to grant degrees after requesting such 3 years ago) and therefore, the SLMC is now permitted to monitor SAITM for the MBBS degree program being conducted at SAITM. The students thus entered into the program are scrutinized by the UGC to meet with the standards of the students entering into medical faculties. A new Teaching Hospital is currently under construction and will be available by March , 2012 for the use of clinical studies for the students.
The institute consists of the following faculties:
Dean :-Prof. Sirimevan Widyasekera PhD