A new age in local universities!

Traditionally local universities have a reputation for non-productivity and violence among many other problems. Many in the private sector blame the institutions for producing an inefficient and incompetent labour force to the economy.

Armed with a lot of examples collected at the recently held workshop on pockets of best practices in the state universities by the chamber of commerce, Deepal Sooriyaarachchi, CEO of Eagle Insurance begs to differ. A member of the steering committee on human resources and education which has formed a round table discussion with the university academics called Chamber Academia Round Table (CART), Sooriyaarachchi believes local universities don’t always receive the credit they deserve. However student clashes, strikes and protests are given ample publicity which has over the years have given rise to a very negative portrait of state-run universities and its students.

Contrary to this image the committee members of CART headed by former chamber head Deva Rodrigo representing the chamber and members of the academia discovered a hidden side of the local varsities.

“During the different CART meetings we discovered that many interesting initiatives were taking place within the university system without even the other universities noticing them. We thought we could provide a forum to share those best practices so that the learning can be spread. The CART committee believes that small initiatives are more powerful facilitators of change than sweeping changes that is not possible,” said Sooriyaarachchi speaking about the workshop where over 27 University Professors from almost all universities took part. From many of the presentations it was evident that the local graduates are not recognised for what they are worth. “The participants proved to us that the local universities are moving on with the times by adopting various, small but effective methods and practices,” said Sooriyaarachchi.

One of the biggest problems the local graduates face is unemployment. The private sector is not always forthcoming in offering job opportunities to local graduates. “It is stupid to think that the local graduates are unemployable and are non-productive. They may not be fluent in English but they are intelligent. It’s a loss to a company not to recruit a local graduate due to the lack of English language skills. I have recruited and trained Sri Lankan graduates in the (local) language and they are doing brilliantly, they have become great assets to the company”, said Sooriyaarachchi.

Many of the universities are now moving towards producing ‘employable graduates’. A good example are the graduates from the Faculty of Agriculture at the University of Peradeniya where 80 percent of the graduates are recruited by private sector companies. “We conduct a survey six months after graduation and out of the 200 who graduate from this faculty most have found employment by then,” said Prof. Buddhi Marambe, Dean of the Faculty of Agriculture, University of Peradeniya.

After it underwent changes in 2004 the degree programme offered by the Faculty of Agriculture at Peradeniya has become a popular choice among students. Today the entry requirement for the course is much higher than any of the Biology or Agriculture programmes offered by any of the 15 universities in the country. Achieving this was no easy task. The faculty has revised all its syllabi content. The focus in the curriculum has shifted from careers in production agriculture to careers in technology and management. “The vision of the faculty is to identify current trends and visualise the future needs of the society. The focus is on a market driven need and we take into account the input from the university stakeholders; the alumni ex-academics, prospective employers, students and private funding organisations,” said Marambe.

The core elements of the new programmes involve diverse aspects such as business management, professional development and technology focused learning compared to the traditional view of agricultural studies which gave prominence to production, agriculture and livestock development. The faculty also has an on-sight training programme of their choice for the undergraduates with 82 private sector organizations.

Taking matters to their own hands the Agriculture Faculty has also taken up the task of marketing their degree programme among prospective students and employers. A colourful brochure, printed by the department stands in clear contrast to the usual roneo or photocopy ‘brochure’ that is given to the internal students in other universities.

“We noticed that even after passing government sponsored A/L examinations many students opt to study in private universities and that these private universities have extensive marketing programmes. We decided to market our degree the same way to attract the best students. We also use this to make the prospective employers aware of what we offer in our degree so that our students have better opportunities,” Marambe told The Sunday Times FT. Meanwhile the Engineering Faculty of the Moratuwa University has focussed heavily on quality assurance and accreditation in the curriculum employed. Each of the departments carries out periodical subject reviews which makes it possible for the university to ensure that the students are provided with internationally recognised qualifications. This procedural framework allows students to adapt and step into opportunities constantly opening up in a rapidly evolving environment.

Sticking to deadlines is a norm in the faculty. Each batch of students are given a time table for their time in the university including the date for their graduation and are told to work towards that time line. “We tell our students that the best they could do for the student population in the country and to the society at large is to not waste time and pass out at the right time. To date we have not failed in our endeavour,” said Prof. A.A.P. De Alwis Professor of the Department of Chemical & Process industry.

Realizing the importance of the options and the requirment of the industry sector the university has initiated Departmental-Industry Consultative Meetings (DICB) where industry is able to air their views and concerns. In some departments curriculum revisions have taken place to support these requests. The university also has Faculty-Industry Consultative Meetings (FICB) where all departments and industry get together once in six months. This has indeed proven to be worthy in forming a well updated need based curriculum. The partnership serves as a good link between the students and the industry as this opens out new and greater opportunities of employment for the graduates. The faculty has also set up partnerships with private organizations for funding of research facilities for the students.

Private sector help

“Companies such as Dialog have tied up with us. Further overseas companies such as Microsoft, Siemens and Zone 24x7 lab, a US based company, have entered into partnerships with us to develop and fund research facilities. MAS group had supported the Textile and Clothing Dept and has even set up a Hall of Fame in recognizing student achievements. Each department is today mandated to develop an industry-sponsored lab and many discussions are currently underway,” said De Alwis.

The Faculty of Graduate Studies (FGS) at the University of Colombo has gone one step further in developing a dialogue between the private sector and the university. The Executive Diploma in Marketing and Masters in Business Studies, two of the courses offered by the faculty, are completely taught by specialists in the private sector. This has given the students a unique opportunity of learning under industry leaders; gaining access into the real world business through their lecturers. Further they have identified many areas for fund generation in partnership with the private sector.

The faculty is at present developing a system for mobile learning for the first time in the country in partnership with Mobitel. With plans of commencement of the course in September the project will take the culture of learning to new heights. “The Executive Diploma in Marketing will be the first course to be conducted through the m-learning programme, where students will be able to log into our system from anywhere in the country and interact with the lecturers and students.

This programe is more advanced than e-learning as we have made it mobile for the benefit of mature students who are working and are mobile all the time,” said Prof. Lakshaman Dissanayake, Dean of the FGS. Many would have been of the opinion that subjects such as history and archaeology are outdated and useless in today’s fast moving environment. However, according to Sooriyaarachchi, this view is misguided. “Subjects like Pali or Sanskrit or Buddhist Civilization should not be taken on their face value. They teach a student to think new. A subject like archaeology trains the mind to solve problems, speculate and investigate. These skills are valuable assets in the corporate world,” said Sooriyaarachchi.

This is exactly what the Archaeology Department of the University of Peradeniya strives to achieve. The curricula of the department contains not only the subject matter of archaeology but also of management studies reflecting on management of finances, labour and projects which would give a well rounded professional in the field of archaeology.

Being employable

“The final product of our undergraduate programme is not only a professional archaeologist but a skilled professional who is employable in the tourist industry, travel trade, advertising, teaching, NGO sector and many other professional fields,” said Sudharshan Seneviratne, former Professor of Archaeology at the University of Peradeniya, and now Director-General of the Central Cultural Fund. It is evident that the local universities in the country are striving to keep with the changing patterns of the modern world. Many have revised their curricula and want to produce an employable and intelligent labour force in the country. A number of things such as teaching methods, and funding and development of universities still remain to be improved.

However this cannot be done alone or overnight but gradually. Like in any environment, change is a difficult process but it should happen if the universities are to meet growing demand and move with time. Change may be slow but it’s definitely coming.