Issues and Challenges of Humanities and Social Sciences Education in Sri Lanka

This collection has been developed as a part of the Sri Lankan universities celebrating hundred years (1921-2021) of teaching Humanities and Social Sciences (HSS) and is primarily an outcome of the deliberation of conference papers presented at this national event held on 20th and 21st of December, 2021, organized by the Standing Committee of HSS, University Grants Commission (UGC). It is the third and the final volume of the series of publication brought out to mark this historical milestone of the higher education sector of Sri Lanka.

Vol. I and Vol. II focus on the historical development of Humanities and Social Sciences disciplines in our university system over the last one hundred years. Two volumes were published under the title of ‘Beyond Boundaries: One Hundred Years of Humanities and Social Sciences in Sri Lankan Universities’ which was edited by Professors Premakumara de Silva, KNO Dharmadasa, Asanga Tilakaratne, Chamalie Nahallage and Wimal Hewamanne.

The collection of papers appearing in this Volume – III addresses some of the critical issues and challenges that are quite relevant to the field of HSS. Some of the key issues and challenges highlighted in the volume are the present status of Social Science and Humanities Studies, Employability issues, Learning Environment, Language Competency of HSS graduates, University – Industry Collaboration, Teaching & Assessments, Quality Assurance of Teaching and Examination, and Issues in Publications in HSS. This volume consists of seven parts arranged according to the thematic order under which eighteen papers are presented. Part I situates the formation of higher education in the country in a historical context: pre-colonial, colonial and post-colonial. Part II carries two papers which focus on current situation of HSS education in our university system.

Part III onwards the Volume moves from more general issues and challenges to specific ones like Graduate Employability, Teaching, Learning and Assessment, English Language Skill and Research, Innovation and Publication. It concentrates on one of the pertaining issues of Employability and Unemployment of Humanities and Social Sciences Graduates in Sri Lanka. This part consists of five chapters from chapter five to nine. Part IV concentrates on teaching, learning and assessment in higher education institutes and this section has contained two chapters.

Part V is concentrated on English language issues of HSS undergraduates. Part VI focuses on Research, Innovation and Publication of Higher Education Institutes in Sri Lanka and three chapters have contributed to discuss issues and challenges in this area. The final Part is addressing the plan for future development in the field of HSS in the state universities. As solutions to some of the pressing issues highlighted in this volume, standard prescriptions have been formulated and often implemented such as strengthening university-industry collaboration, modernizing curricula to meet the needs of the labour market, public private partnerships, internationalization, promoting more marketable study programmes, encouraging universities to offer financially sustainable and self-financed study programmes, strengthening ICT, soft skills, English among graduates, and restructuring of external degree programs, expanding science and technology studies while limiting the expansion of the humanities and social sciences.

The latest UGC statistics show that Humanities and Social Sciences education is still the dominant field of university education in the country though some argue about the drastic cut down of ‘Arts’ education in our universities. This volume with the forward by Prof. Jayadeva Uyangoda, was edited by Professors Premakumara de Silva, Wimal Hewamanne, Asha Fernando and Lalith Ananda and was published by University Grants Commission The e-versions of those volumes are available free of charge at UGC web page.