Challenges faced by Arts and Humanities Graduates in University System of Sri Lanka

By M. W. Amarasiri de Silva.
(Emeritus Professor, University of Peradeniya and Adjunct Professor,
University of Pittsburgh, and Lecturer, UCSC, USA)

In the university system of Sri Lanka, the Arts and Humanities faculties have a significant presence, comprising the largest student population, surpassing 25% of the total annual intake. However, despite their substantial representation, Arts and Humanities graduates encounter substantial challenges in terms of employability. A staggering 75% of these graduates find themselves unemployed immediately after completing their education. This issue has led to the formation of trade unions specifically catering to the concerns of unemployed Arts and Humanities graduates, which have attracted a sizeable membership.

Arts and Humanities faculties within the Sri Lankan university system have emerged as the largest academic disciplines in terms of student enrolment. This dominance can be attributed to various factors, including historical significance, cultural values, and personal preferences among students.

In the school system, students who sit the GCE A/L examination and those who qualify for university entrance are largely arts and humanities students and mainly female students. The large number of arts and humanities students are coming from rural areas as most rural schools lack facilities for science education.

The arts and humanities graduates are considered not fit for employment in the private sector which value English language and IT skills for employment. The mismatch between the skills acquired during their education and the demands of the job market contributes to this issue. Many Arts and Humanities programmes tend to focus on theoretical and conceptual knowledge, often lacking practical skills and vocational training.

The downfall of the arts and humanities faculties reflects the downfall of the university system. Insufficient funding has been a factor throughout the decades that hindered development of the university system. Minimal facilities for the students, and teaching staff is due to the restrictions on funding provided for the universities. Currently, only 1.9 % of GDP is allocated to higher education in Sri Lanka (World Bank), whereas in India it is.2.9% in 2023. The % of GDP expenditure on education in the world was 14% in 2017 and 12.6% in 2020 (UNESCO Institute for Statistics).

Sri Lanka has tied itself to the United Nations 2030 agenda for SD with the 17 SDGs. The fourth goal of SDGs, “Quality Education” aims to impart inclusive high-quality education and lifelong learning opportunities for all by the year 2030. The vision of the Ministry of higher Education is Sri Lanka to be an international Centre of Excellence on Higher Education, with 10 laudable objectives including increasing student intake, making employable graduates.

The world ranking of Sri Lankan universities has deplorably declined. World university ranking of the Colombo University is 2172 and University of Peradeniya is 2249 (Website Department of Education). The world ranking of universities is typically done through a complex process that involves the evaluation of various factors and criteria. One of the most well-known university rankings is the QS World University Rankings, which provides insights into the performance of universities globally.

Generally, ranking organisations gather a wide range of data from universities. This data can include information about academic reputation, faculty qualifications, research output, student-to-faculty ratio, international diversity, citations per faculty, employer reputation, teaching quality, and more. Research output takes a prominent place. The quantity and impact of research publications are assessed. Metrics like citations per faculty member or per paper are used to measure the influence of a university’s research.

Some rankings consider a university’s ability to transfer knowledge and technology to the commercial sector through patents, licenses, and spin-off companies.  Once data is collected, a weighted scoring system is often applied to assign numerical values to each criterion. The universities are then ranked based on their total scores. The number of international students and faculty, as well as collaborations with international institutions, are assessed to determine the global reach and impact of a university.

 Suggestions to Improve Higher education in Sri Lanka

1.Vice chancellors in the universities should be appointed based on their administrative skills and other qualifications, and the application should be open to all. The system of selecting VCs from within the universities should be withheld. This way, qualified people can be attracted to hold VC positions, which is imperative for running the universities.

2.The transformation and evolution of higher education have become crucial in a globalised world, where universities need to adapt to emerging trends and demands, which are seen as essentials for economic development. One key strategy to foster academic growth and internationalisation is by granting universities greater independence. This can facilitate the forging of global connections, programme linkages with foreign institutions, and the removal of legal barriers to foreign collaboration. Universities should be made independent so that they can forge connections, link programmes with foreign universities. The legal barriers to such collaboration should be avoided.

3.Legal barriers often act as impediments to international collaborations for universities in Sri Lanka. By removing or minimising these barriers, universities can more effectively participate in collaborative research endeavours, facilitate faculty exchanges, and promote student mobility programmes with their foreign counterparts.

Over-reliance on government funding can curtail a university’s potential, underscoring the necessity of diversifying income streams. By securing a portion of their revenue from research grants, universities can channel resources into pioneering research, infrastructure development, and academic initiatives, fostering growth and spurring innovation.

Introducing incentives for professors who successfully secure research grants serve to enhance motivation and stimulate scholarly pursuits. In cases where a professor secures a research grant, a corresponding percentage of the grant should be added to their salary as a motivating factor. Notably, numerous universities in the USA have witnessed professors boosting their salaries by up to 40% through the acquisition of research grants. A percentage of the grant could be integrated into a professor’s salary, acknowledging their role in advancing knowledge and nurturing a research-driven culture.

4.Faculty Recruitment should be transparent. Many Sri Lankan Universities prefer to hire their own graduates, which is not nice.  Open applications for faculty positions ensure that the university attracts the most qualified and diverse candidates, both internally and externally. This practice enhances academic rigor and brings fresh perspectives to the institution. Faculty positions should be filled after calling for open applications, so that qualified people outside the university community can apply for the positions.

This way more qualified academics can be attracted. Foreign nationals should also be allowed to apply for academic positions in the universities. Also, foreign scholars of repute should be given sabbatical positions in the departments to teach courses and do research.

5.The faculty promotion scheme’s point system requires a revision to prioritise research and publications better. Although the current promotion criteria commendably assign higher scores for faculty-published books, there exists a notable absence of a robust monitoring and evaluation mechanism. Instances abound where applicants hastily produce a book, printing a limited quantity—around 25 copies, for example—solely to secure 15 points for promotion consideration.

Such individually generated works often bypass evaluation committees composed of subject matter experts in the respective field. To address this, I propose the establishment of discipline-specific committees consisting of seasoned faculty members within the corresponding subject areas. Their role would involve reviewing book proposals before publication, ensuring that only approved proposals proceed to the publishing phase. Furthermore, the university grants commission should allocate research and book publishing grants to faculty members to facilitate the creation of textbooks and research publications in book format.

6.The prevailing trend within the university system is to allocate less time for senior faculty towards teaching, in contrast to junior faculty members who handle a significant teaching workload across multiple courses. These junior faculty members function as teachers and tutors, dedicating approximately 5-7 hours daily to these tasks. However, this system is flawed in several respects. To begin with, the senior staff members, who possess a greater depth of knowledge and experience, should ideally be better equipped to deliver courses of higher quality than their junior counterparts.

Secondly, the current teaching approach displays a marked imbalance, disproportionately favouring the junior faculty. This disparity ought to be rectified. There should be a move towards a more equitable distribution of the teaching workload, ensuring fairness among faculty members.

7.University housing facilities should be improved / set up for foreign nationals to stay, as they bring foreign exchange. Many universities in Europe and the USA have study programs in identified developing countries, as they feel that the students in such universities should get foreign exposure in developing country settings. The program should be given a prominent place in the university system with hostel and housing facilities for foreign nationals. These programs foster cross-cultural understanding.

When I was the head of sociology, a Danish university wanted to send their anthropology/sociology students comprising 30 persons for one semester to get fieldwork exposure in the war-torn areas of Sri Lanka. They were prepared to pay a tuition of $1500 a month per student.

Once the contract is signed, they agreed to send batches of students for training in fieldwork every year.  This facility if it happened would have provided $45,000 or Sri Lanka rupees 14,482,350 every year. One of the important requirements was good hostel facilities with air conditioning and good bathroom facilities. As Peradeniya did not have those facilities, we lost that opportunity.

8.Introducing a community studies program, specifically within the sociology and anthropology programs at universities in Sri Lanka, entails engaging arts and humanities students in an exploration of the challenges faced by rural communities. This initiative involves a participatory approach that actively involves the communities themselves. By doing so, the program can leverage the distinct perspectives and innovative solutions the village residents possess concerning their issues. In the United States, universities have established enduring Community Studies programmes within their arts and humanities departments.

These programes adopt a social justice perspective and concentrate on addressing societal problems by integrating classroom learning and extensive field studies. Enrolled students collaborate closely with both non-governmental and governmental organisations, actively contributing to resolving community-centric issues.

Consequently, these initiatives have effectively addressed the identified challenges and generated employment avenues for graduates in social sciences. By embracing a similar strategy in Sri Lanka, the proposed community studies programme has the potential to cultivate a more comprehensive and solution-driven approach to prevailing societal predicaments. This approach would prove advantageous for the students and the communities they engage with, promoting mutual growth and development.

9.Introduction of a Programme to Engage High School Students in GCE A/L Classes with Hands-On University Experience: In an endeavour to foster a stronger connection between high school students enrolled in GCE A/L classes and the university environment, a pioneering initiative need to be introduced. Drawing inspiration from the acclaimed Science Internship Program (SIP) at UCSC in the USA, this endeavour aims to not only entice students but also bridge the educational representation gap within society.

The SIP, a dynamic science internship programme, serves as a model for attracting students from less represented segments of society to pursue higher education. This program extends an invitation to high school students, encouraging them to partake in a comprehensive 10-week programme facilitated by esteemed professors and subject specialists. The core focus lies in imparting research skills, ultimately guiding participants to undertake research projects.

These research projects, nurtured under the guidance of seasoned experts, culminate in a noteworthy conference presentation. Impressively, some students seize this opportunity to showcase their talents, yielding exceptional projects that have the potential to result in publishable papers. These papers often find their way into student journals or esteemed academic publications.

This initiative is not solely about nurturing academic growth; it’s about nurturing the spark of curiosity and igniting the flame of interest in university-level education and research. By immersing themselves in a hands-on university experience, these high school students not only gain a taste of the academic realm but also cultivate a genuine interest in furthering their education within a university setting.

This innovative programme envisions a future where the minds of school students are captivated by the allure of university education and the world of research. Through internships that stimulate their academic potential, these students gradually develop a profound inclination to pursue higher education and contribute to the realms of research and academia. The UGC ought to earmark funds for a SIP or STEM + Arts and Humanities programme with comparable characteristics, encompassing all universities in Sri Lanka, to rekindle the widespread enthusiasm for university education.

10. It is a widely recognised reality that students hailing from rural areas often encounter educational setbacks. The disparity in educational opportunities between rural and urban regions can be largely attributed to the absence of high-quality schools and competent teachers in rural locales. There exists a prevailing inclination among teachers to seek employment in urban settings. Addressing this issue necessitates a multifaceted approach, encompassing both the enhancement of rural schools and the comprehensive training of educators through teacher’s colleges strategically established in rural areas.

Furthermore, alongside these endeavours, it is imperative to identify promising students from rural backgrounds and offer them support by enrolling them in well-established schools. This support could be extended through a bursary programme akin to the Mahapola programme, which caters to the needs of rural students. This multifaceted approach is instrumental in not only narrowing the educational gap between rural and urban areas but also providing deserving students with the opportunities they rightfully deserve.I trust that both the Minister of Higher Education and the Minister of Education (schools) will attentively consider the recommendations presented in this article.