A significant majority of academics, professionals, students and members of the public harshly condemn the use of higher education as a commercial product and the legitimization of a commercially oriented system. definition in relation to the government's intention to grant accreditation to private universities/higher education institutions. This article aims to examine whether and how private higher education could empower or disempower Sri Lankan youth, as claimed by the parties that strongly defend and condemn it. Although higher and private educational institutions are not a new phenomenon in the country and have been a controversial topic On this subject, the government plans to increase its support for the establishment of private universities and the reluctance of medical organizations professionals to grant approval to the new private medical college in Sri Lanka gave rise to many heated debates. However, there is an explanatory gap in the discourses defending and opposing private higher education in Sri Lanka, as they seem obsessed with the logistical and monetary aspects of the problem. The present study advocates a philosophy of empowerment through education and considers “empowerment” as the basis of the analysis; it intends to answer the question posed in the title: can private higher education (dis)empower Sri Lankan youth? However, my concern is not based solely on the idea that what might empower one segment of a community might disempower another segment of the same community. To suggest this, in my title I add the prefix "dis" in parentheses before the word "responsibilise" and the phrase, a question mark is in parentheses to the phrase "a diploma for sale", a reflection of the popular S .... middle of paper ......government universities resulting from the strengthening of the private higher education sector. It is interesting to note that various informants, throughout the interviews, expressed their disillusionment with the deficiencies of the country's public administration, including higher education, and doubted the extent to which "assurance quality” would work in the Sri Lankan context. However, overall, the findings of my research can be used in future policy making in higher education in Sri Lanka, particularly as it seeks to document the students' perspective which appears to have been currently ignored in higher education policy planning. In other words, the concerns and constructive criticism of the parties concerned can be leveraged not only in the development of policies for private higher education, but also in the development of educational policies in general..