The Twenty- First Century (HETC) Project is a World Bank funded Project (USD 40 million) under the Ministry of Higher Education, with the objective of enhancing the capacity of the higher education system. One of its activities is to strengthen the quality of the University academic staff through suitable postgraduate programs, with foreign exposure. Under this program, approximately 200 scholarships have been awarded to the University academic staff to complete their MPhil/PhD training.

It was found through a survey that most of the University academic staff do not possess PhD training. In established Universities, only 46.5% of the academic staff have PhDs; in Northern and Eastern Universities, it is only 22%; while in the newly established Universities it is 18%. Through this program, we aim to complete 10% of the total PhD training requirement of the University sector. The degrees should be awarded by Sri Lankan Universities, which will promote of research of local relevance and strengthen research capacities in the Sri Lankan Universities. In this context, we have prioritized certain areas that need special focus in training; those are the Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences, Management, Performing Arts and Indigenous Medicine streams which require special attention and also the most important area of English Language Teaching Units of the Universities.

It is expected that this program will immensely contribute to the Country's aim of making Sri Lanka the Knowledge Hub of Asia.