South Asian Institute of Technology and Medicine Ltd.

Address: No.60, Suhada Mawatha, Millennium Drive, Off Chandrika Kumaratunga Mawatha, Malabe, Sri Lanka.

Proof of recognition as a Higher Education Institution: a) The name of the relevant local quality assurance agency/agencies
Quality Assurance & Accreditation Council, Division of the University Grant Commission, Sri Lanka


b) An introduction to the institute & Institutional review status with the agency

An Introduction to the Institute: SAITM

SAITM, the South Asian Institute of Technology and Medicine, is the first Green campus located in the suburbs of Colombo with a vision to make Sri Lankan and regional youth enriched with professionalism and character. The multi faculty campus located on a picturesque land in the midst of vast green land integrates students of all disciplines with the environment and makes them eco friendly. SAITM Malabe, the newest addition to private sector higher education sector in Sri Lanka is dedicated to serve deserving learners Sri Lanka and beyond. (For Evidence please visit http://www.saitm.edu.lk/overview_saitm.htm for more information). SAITMâ??s vision is to â??To produce educated men and women of character and be the leading private sector higher education institution in the South Asian regionâ? and headed by the Chairman Prof. Neville Fernando. (For Evidence please visit http://www.saitm.edu.lk/org_struct_saitm.htm for more information).

SAITM, the South Asian Institute of Technology and Medicine (Pvt) Ltd. initially known as â??South Asian Institute of Technology and Managementâ?? was established at Malabe, as a non-state higher education training institute with the approval of the Board of Investment Sri Lanka (BOI).

At the time of seeking approval, the entrepreneur had indicated clearly their business venture is to provide training programmes in i) Information Technology, ii) Management and Finance, iii) Engineering, iv) Vocational Studies, v) Nursing, vii) Languages and viii) Health Sciences. The BOI granted the approval subject to specific conditions. The two conditions specific to the issue under discussion are, i) the enterprise should obtain approval from the Ministry of Health and Nutrition prior to providing training in health sciences and ii) the enterprise is permitted to offer degrees only after affiliating with a recognized foreign university with prior approval of BOI. Further, the SAITM at the time of seeking the approval from BOI had indicated that it would set up a â??High-tech Private Hospitalâ?? to conduct clinical training for students and had obtained approval for this in principle from the Ministry of Healthcare and Nutrition. The SAITM signed the compliance agreement with BOI on 1st October 2008.

In August 2008, the Chairman of SAITM made a written request to the Hon. Minister of Higher Education seeking approval of the Ministry for the institute to operate as a degree awarding institution. In this communication, the Chairman, SAITM stated that it intends to establish 5 faculties (Faculty of Information, Management and Business, Faculty of Languages, Education, and Law and Performing Arts, Faculty of Commerce and Media, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences and Faculty of Engineering, Building Construction and Quantity Surveying). Following this initial inquiry, there had been subsequent correspondence between the Minister and UGC and SAITM in this regard. At present SAITM consist of 5 faculties namely: Faculty of Medicine; Faculty of Engineering; Faculty of ICT & Media; and Faculty of Management & Finance.

While seeking approval for SAITM as a degree awarding institute, the Chairman/SAITM proceeded to establish a partnership with Nizhny Novgorod State Medical Academy of the Russian Federation (NNSMA) to offer a degree in medical sciences through a cross-border arrangement. The degrees offered by NNSMA are recognized by the UGC and the MD degree offered is recognized by the SLMC for registration to practice medicine in Sri Lanka. In June 2009, SAITM had established a formal partnership with NNSMA to train students in general medicine through a cross-border arrangement and a contract was signed by two parties concerned. In February 2009 the Chairman/SAITM made initial inquiries from Sri Lanka Medical Council (SLMC) with regard to obtaining recognition for the medical degree offered through this cross-border training arrangement. Subsequent to this, there had been many correspondences between SAITM and SLMC regarding this matter.

On the request made by the Chairman/SAITM, the Honourable Minister of Higher Education requested the UGC to make recommendations regarding the course of action or options available to all parties to facilitate the private initiative in higher education, which is pursued actively by the Government. A team from the UGC visited the SAITM at Malabe on 19th November 2010 as a fact finding mission.

In February 2011, SAITM submitted a Self-Evaluation Report for Institutional Review, to the Quality Assurance and Accreditation Council of the UGC, prepared according to the QAACâ??s Guidelines for the recognition/registration of a degree awarding institute. The review visit was carried out on 22-23 February 2011. The review team consisted of the following members:

Emeritus Professor Dayantha Wijesekera - University of Moratuwa
Emeritus Professor WD Lakshman -University of Colombo
Prof Narada Warnasuriya-University of Sri Jayeâ??pura
Dr NJ Nonis -Sri Lanka Medical Council
Dr Priyantha Premakumara-University Grants Commission
Mr RAU Ranaweera - University Grants Commission
Ms Vishaka Wanasinghe - University Grants Commission
Prof Colin Peiris - QAA Council of the UGC

The Self Evaluation Report (SER) was made available to each member of the team well ahead of their visit to SAITM for the review process.

As stipulated in the QAAC Guidelines, the aspects reviewed during this process were as follows:
1. Governance
2. Management
3. Financial viability
4. Physical resources
5. Academic planning and development process and quality assurance procedures
6. Academic and research competencies of staff


Institutional Review status with the agency

By now the SAITM have obtained the UGC approved Institution status.


c) Evidence of the accreditation/review status with the agency

The SAITM Institutional review report is attached.


d) How membership of APQN can benefit the institutionâ??s quality assurance activities

Benefits of obtaining APQN membership are:
1. Global recognition â?? Specifically in the Asia Pacific region;
2. Open the path to enter to the Asian Pacific as well as global ranking standards automatically;
3. Opportunities to participate at International conferences, symposiums, forums, seminars;
4. Provision for staff to publish research papers, deliver presentations and also to interact with many scholars and intellectuals;
5. Ability to share good practices of quality assurance with higher ranked International universities and professional bodies.


e) SAITM Internal Quality Assurance Committee & its Present status

In order to ensure the continuous maintenance and development of high quality standards in every aspect of SAITM activities, and appointed SAITM Internal Quality Assurance (IQA) Committee in May, 2011 which is supervised by the Quality Assurance and Accreditation (QAA) Council of Sri Lanka, University Grants Commission, Ministry of Higher Education.

The mission of the SAITM IQA committee is nothing but to ensure â??Continuous support for institutional planning and decision making in maintaining and enhancing Standards & Quality in education at SAITM based on the mission and vision of the instituteâ?.

Proof of the organisation’s good standing with the local QA agency: Please Note: The following documents will be email to "fangle666@gmail.com " the APQN Administrator as evidence: 1) SAITM Institutional review report 2) A set of Monthly meeting minutes of SAITM Internal Quality Assurance committee 3) A scan copy of the BOI approval 4) A scan copy of the SAITM Company Registration