Critics of the education system, including academics and parents, state that the education system is too competitive and rigid unlike education systems in other societies.
Efforts to establish private universities have been blocked, resulting in only state universities awarding local degrees. Opponents of private universities claim that private universities as privatization of education and damaging the standard of the education. However the demand for higher education has created several private institutions that conduct courses for degrees in foreign universities, these are not regulated or evaluated for proper standards by the government or independent organizations.
Compulsory leadership training for undergraduates
In 2011, the government made it mandatory for all students selected for undergraduate courses in state universities to undergo Compulsory leadership training for undergraduates at military and police bases. The government sited the need for residential three week training to increase employability thus reducing the high graduate unemployment in state universities. This move has drawn criticisms from the opposition, student groups and human rights groups as the nature of compulsory military type training seen in conscription. However, shortly after the 2015 presidential election, the newly elected president Maithripala Sirisena along with the Sri Lankan Parliament put an end to this training in 2015.