As the Technical Assistance Programme for 2000/2001 is to be finalized shortly, requirements for 2000/2001 should be sent at your earliest in the annexed Format. Please note that only those courses that are offered regularly by donors in the previous years are included. Announcements of irregular courses will be forwarded from ERD on an ad-hoc basis.

Your Ministry list should include all your requirements for the coming year. Nominations currently pending with the donor agencies or which have not been deferred for the subsequent year, should also be included as requests for each donor.

Please note that the responses to this circular will be treated as a Survey to be used as a basis for discussions between the ERD and the donor agencies, to obtain fellowships. The Department will invite nominations at a later date on the basis of actual allocations made by the donor agencies.

In sending your requirements for training the guidelines stipulated in the Circular should be strictly adhered to.

Seminars and Workshops of around two weeks or less are not included in the 2000/2001 survey. Such programs are generally meant for senior public service officials.

1. Requests indicated separately in respect of each donor country, should be sent using the annexed Format on "Foreign Training Requirements".

2. After a strict scrutiny of all requests, only those which are directly relevant to functions and work programmes of the Ministry should be included in the list with a brief justification for each request to indicate its importance and relevance to the functions/work programmes of the institution.

3. Requests of all the institutions under your Ministry should be sent in a consolidated form arranged according to the order of priority for each donor.

4. The prospective candidates should have for :

Long – term Training

TOEFL (Test of English as a foreign language) – minimum score required 500.

IELTS (International English Language test in system) – minimum score required 6.0.

Short – term Training

Prospective candidates should have a sufficient command of spoken and written English.

5. The prospective candidates should be below 45 Years of age. Further details are given in Guidelines under each country.

6. Only one request for a fellowship should be made by any prospective candidate.

7. Employees who have received one long – term training course abroad under Government auspices are not eligible for another one.

8. Employees should have three years of Government service to be eligible for long – term Training.

9. There are some limitations for the short – term courses - less priority is given for the employees who had short – term foreign training opportunities during last 3 years.

Around 7 Fellowships are available under the Australian Development Scholarships Programme (ADS) for Long Term Training in the following areas:-

• Commerce or Industry Research

• Regional Development

• Management

• Economics and General Management

• Agriculture

• Electrical/Telecommunications or other specialist Engineering Sector

• Medicine/Surgery

• Vocational & Technical Training Policy

Nominees should be below 45 years of age at the time of nomination. An equal number of male and female candidates are preferred in order to maintain a gender balance in the programme. Candidates must obtain a minimum British Council IELTS overall score of 6.0 or TOEFL score of 550 in order to qualify for Post Graduate Training.

The total number of courses available under the Belgium Programme is around 10. Annually 3 to 4 awards are made through international competitive selection. These courses are at Postgraduate Level in the fields of Environment, Social Science, Aquaculture and Medicine. Please see attached Annex 1 for details.,

The total number of Postgraduate Degree Programmes available is 36. Annually around 5 awards are made based on international competitive selection. Details of the courses are given in Annex II. In particular German Institutions are concerned of certified true copies of the educational qualifications and the medical reports to be submitted together with the application.

The Govt. of Greece offers 25 scholarships for Asian Nationals for Post Graduate/Post Doctoral studies in Greek Language, Literature, Philosophy, History & Art. Awards will made on competitive selection.

India

The Govt. of India Offers Post Graduate Degree Programmes in Human Resource Planning, Tool Design, Dye and Mould Design, Craft Instructor Training, Statistics, maintenance Engineering & Management, Marine Engineering, Business administration, plant protection, cooperative Banking , etc. Government of India provides technical assistance under the programmes of Indian Government Technical & Economic Corporation (ITEC) and Colombo Plan. Details are given in Annex III.

The Government of Japan offers limited number of long term training programmes to Sri Lanka. Details of the Programmes are given in the Annex IV.

The long term training courses available under the Netherlands Government Fellowship Programme for 1998 are given in Annex V. More details of the courses given in Annex V are available at the Department for reference. Approximately 30 Long Term Fellowships are available under this programme.

The Netherlands Government Fellowships are awarded on the basis of worldwide competitive selection and therefore candidates nominated for this programme must have the necessary academic qualifications and work experience required for the course.

1. The candidates nominated for the postgraduate diploma and MA/MSc courses at Institute for Housing and Urban Development Studies (IHS), Institute of Social Studies (ISS), International Agricultural Centre (IAC), International Institute for Aerospace Survey and Earth Sciences (ITC), International Institute of Infrastructural, Hydraulic and Environmental Engineering (IHE), International Maritime Transport Academy (IMTA), Royal Tropical Institute (KIT), Wageningen Agricultural University, University of Twente, etc. should have a minimum score of 550 in TOEFL or 5.5 in IELTS.

The candidates applying for M.Sc, courses at Wageningen Agriculture University need to pass an entrance examination held in Sri Lanka around December/January each year.

2. The candidates applying for M.A. courses at ISS should possess at least a Second Class Lower Division Pass at first degree level.

3. In terms of the regulations of the Netherlands Government, male candidates over 40 years and female candidates over 45 years are not eligible for fellowships under this Programme. This criteria should strictly be followed when nominating candidates under this programme.

The Government of New Zealand under its Development Assistance Study Award Scheme provides two Long Term Fellowships for Masters level training. The fields available under Agriculture, Arts, Business, Engineering, Environmental & Resource Management, Health, Law, Social Science and Technology. English Language requirement for New Zealand Fellowships is a minimum score of 600 or 6.5 for TOEFL or IELTS respectively.

Norway

Long Term Fellowships for Postgraduate studies in the fields of Professional Shipping, Hydropower Development, Electric Power Distribution Systems, Petroleum Exploration and Production, Management of Natural Resources and Sustainable Agriculture will be available in Norway. The type of training and duration is given in Annex VI.

The candidates should be fully qualified in a profession and aim at improving their skills by attending these courses. All applicants must have a good working knowledge of English and required to undergo one of the following tests.

* TOEFL - Minimum score required : 500

* IELTS - Minimum score required : 5.5

The British Authorities have changed the scope of their Technical Assistance Programme providing training only for project related activities. Therefore, no free standing courses are available. No requests should therefore be made for the U.K. Programme.

The details of regular Short term Training (training that has been awarded for the last two years) is described under each country heading. These training awards may be repeated for the next year. Details on the fields of training and duration are given in Annexes VII (a) - VII (v).

The Arab Republic of Egypt offers five scholarships annually for agricultural studies. Programme details are attached in Annex VII (a).

The Government of Germany offers a Free Quota Training System – The total number of courses offered is 15. 15 – 20 certificate

awards are made annually.

Many of these Fellowships are offered by the German Foundation for International Development, Carl Duisberg Gesellshaft (DSE/CDG) and the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD). Details are given in Annex VII (b).

India invites nominations for about 120 courses annually. The detailed list is given in Annex VII(c)

About 110 awards are made each year. The fields of training are in Agriculture, Audit/Accounts, Commerce, Computers, Education, Finance, Science and Technology, Rural Development, Statistics, Water Resources, Transport etc.

The Government of Indonesia offers around 10 short term training scholarships annually. The fields of training are Irrigation and Drainage Engineering, Electronic Engineering, Press and Public Relations, T.V.Programme Production and Management, Primary Health Care , Pest Control etc. Details are given in Annex VII (d)

The Government of Japan provides training facilities through JICA under the following categories.

1. JICA – Group Training Programme

2. JICA – Country Focused Special Group Training Programme

3. JICA – Third Country Training Programme

4. JICA – Counterpart Training Programme

1. JICA Group Training Programmes

JICA offers training programmes, seminars, workshops etc. for groups of participants for various recipient countries under the above mentioned category. The duration of such programmes varies from 2 weeks to 8 months. The number of participants for each group varies from 5 – 20. The average number for such programmes conducted during the fiscal year – April to March is 448. Details of courses are given in Annex VII(e). JICA may select only one participant from each country.

JICA in consultation with this Department annually selects an average of 245 programmes. The selection of the programmes for consideration by JICA will be based on requests made by Government Agencies. Annually about 250 awards are made. Please note that the allocation of placements will be made to the most suitable institutions based on the justifications given by the institutions.

ERD can request JICA to provide training for a group of Sri Lanka participants in Japan. The total number of awards received by Sri Lanka is around 3. The average number of participants in a group varies from 5 to 10. The average duration varies from 2 to 4 weeks. The requested fields of training should be a specialized area which is not covered by training programmes given in (1) and (3).

JICA offers training courses similar to the category 1 above in collaboration with other countries such as Thailand, Singapore, Pakistan, Malaysia, Philippines and Sri Lanka. These training courses are offered on an adhoc basis and applications will be called by ERD from the most suitable Government Agencies when and where such offers are made. Around 40 awards are available. In addition about 15 places are available for training courses to be held in Sri Lanka. The list of training courses is given in Annex VII (f).

The officials who work as Counterparts to the JICA Grant Aid Project such as Project Type Technical Cooperation Projects, Development Studies, Equipment Grants, and individual Experts, are eligible for these training programmes. The Participants are nominated by Executing Agencies in consultation with JICA as and when such training necessity arises. The applicants for these training programmes should be below 45 years of age. It is not necessary to make requests at this juncture for project related activities.

The list of training and duration of each course are given in Annex VII (g). The total number of courses are 25 and around 35 awards are made annually.

In general Malaysia offers about 10 Short Term Training Courses (less than 2 months). The main fields of training are for Management and Agriculture. For more details please see Annex VII (h).

The Short Term Training Courses available under the Netherlands Fellowship Programme for 1998 are given in Annex VII (i). About 80 Short Term Training awards are made annually.

Male candidates less than 40 years and female candidates less than 45 years are eligible for these fellowships.

The Netherlands Government does not provide travel expenses for courses which are of less than 3 months duration.

Environmental Management and Ecological Planning programmes are available under Norway short term training programme. Details are given in Annex VII (j).

The training Programme is focused in the field of Banking. The total number of courses offered is 2. Annually about 2 awards are made available. Please see Annex VII (k)

The Singapore Training Programme consists of about 15 courses. Annually about 20 awards are made. Many of these training courses are of duration less than one month. However there are few awards with the duration of 6 months. Please see Annex VII (l) for more details.

Around 60 Short Term Training Courses (less than 1 month) are available under the Swedish International Training Programme – Annex VII (m).

These Training Programmes are designed for executive staff having University Degrees and relevant work experience.

The list of training courses offered under the Thai International Training Programme is given in Annex VII (n). The total number of awards is about 20 and the duration ranges between 1 –3 months.

ADB offers a very limited number of short-term training programmes to Sri Lanka. Details are given in Annex VII (o).

Colombo Plan Secretariat implements a programme in Public Administration. There are 10 fields ranging from improving Service Sector Skills, Productivity, Labour Management, Vocational Training, International Marketing and Poverty Alleviation. In addition, there are regional training courses on Fisheries and Marine and Coastal Area Management. The total number of awards is around 10 and the duration of these programmes range from 1 to 2 weeks. The list of programmes is given in Annex VII (p).

Around 40 short term training programmes (less than 3 months) and very limited number of long term programmes conducted in Commonwealth Developing Countries will be funded under the CFTC Programme. Annually 60 awards are made available. Details of the training programme is given in Annex VII (q). CFTC provides Fellowships in the following areas.

• Financial Management

• Economic and Social Development

• Administrative and Management Reforms

• Human Resource Development

• Environmental Promotion

• Science and Technology

Preference will be given to candidates below 45 years of age. CFTC preferred nominations of suitable female candidates.

Once a Commonwealth Fellowship is offered, the particular candidate is considered to be Ineligible to apply for any other Commonwealth Programme upto a period of 3 years.

International Monetary Fund (IMF)

The total number of awards will be about 6. The fields of training are mainly on Financial Policy and Analysis. The selection of participants is highly competitive. Annex VI (r) gives more details on the courses.

Fellowship applications are entertained only for project related training. However, there are around 40 Fellowships available under the Technical Cooperation among Developing Countries (TCDC) with China, Singapore and Thailand

The China/UNDP TCDC Programme concentrates mainly in the field of Agriculture and Energy. More details are given in Annex VII (s).

The Singapore TCDC Programme emphasizes the economic infrastructure field. The course details and duration are given in Annex VII(t).

The Thailand TCDC programme concentrates mainly on poverty alleviation and National Resource Management progrmmes. Details are given in Annex VII(u)

UN Agencies such as FAO , ESCAP etc offer training programmes in the fields of Agriculture, Animal husbandry and Natural Disaster Management. The course details are given in Annex VII (v)

Participants should possess at least 3 years work experience relevant to the course objectives.

SGD: Faiz Mohideen R.V.Nanayakkara

Director General Director/ Technical Assistant Division

CC : All Chief Secretaries of Provincial Councils, District Secretaries

All Heads of Depts

Chairmans of Boards & Authorities

FORMAT

Ministry……………………………………… Donor Agency………………

* As indicated in the annexure
* * Type of Training: LT-Long Term
ST- Short Term

Foreign Training Opportunities