How Many Graduates and Postgraduates are Produced by Sri Lankan Universities?

Pursuing higher education is important. As a Sri Lankan student, you may wonder – how many graduates and postgraduates do our local universities produce every year? Understanding these numbers can help guide your academic decisions.

Sri Lankan Univesity statistics published by the Univesity Grants Commission in Sri Lanka present a summary of students who graduated from Universities and HEIs. The numbers of graduates (Graduate Output) are those who successfully completed the relevant programme during the period of 1st January to 31st December 2021. The successful completion is defined according to the effective date of the degree.

Total Graduate (Bachelor Degree) Output – 2021

In 2021, Sri Lankan universities gave a total of 25,890 undergraduate degrees. These covered many subjects – from Arts, Education, Engineering, Medicine, Science, and more.

Total Postgraduate Output – 2021 – Master, PG Diploma, PhD.

For postgraduate degrees, the universities gave 10,122 qualifications in specialized subjects.

Education: 3,679 postgraduates
Management & Commerce: 1,914 postgraduates
Medicine & Health Sciences: 797 postgraduates
Engineering: 427 postgraduates
Science/IT: 971 postgraduates

Percentage of different post-graduate degrees:

• Master = 60.3%,
• PG Dip. = 28.2%,
• MD, 6.2%,
• MPhil, 3.1%
• PhD, 2.2%

GRADUATE OUTPUT OF EXTERNAL DEGREE PROGRAMMES BY HIGHER EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTION – 2021

Graduate output of Open Univesity programs

What does this mean for you as a student?

It shows that local universities offer diverse course options – you can match your interests to an academic path.

Use these numbers to explore opportunities in different faculties. See what fits your passions and career goals.

Key Takeaways on Graduation Landscape in Sri Lanka

1. Sri Lankan universities offer undergraduate and postgraduate degrees spanning diverse disciplines like Arts, Commerce, Medicine, Engineering, Sciences etc. This reflects the richness of academic choices available locally.
2. In 2021 alone, Sri Lankan universities produced close to 26,000 undergraduate and 10,000 postgraduate degree holders. To give perspective, the USA produces over 2 million bachelor’s degrees and around 800,000 master’s/doctoral degrees annually. So the scale of graduates produced in the USA is much larger.
3. Some top source disciplines for graduates in Sri Lanka seem to be Arts, Management and Commerce, Engineering, Science, Computer Science, Agriculture and Medicine/health sciences. This indicates both foundational and specialized areas of higher education focus locally. The top bachelor’s degrees in the USA are in Business, Health Professions, Social Sciences, and history.
4.  Sri Lankan universities facilitate vertically integrated academic growth from bachelor’s to postgraduate specializations. Almost 40% of local postgraduates are from the Education domain. 

Download full data
https://www.ugc.ac.lk/downloads/statistics/stat_2021/Chapter%204.pdf

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