Entering the world beyond lecture halls
Three young men -- vocal, confident, passionate and rational - representing many others.
Kasun Silva, ( 23) from Kottawa, Laksan Yasaratne (25) from Balangoda and Abdul Malik ( 24) from Slave Island, are talking enthusiastically about “life- changing” experiences.
Two projects relating to the water crisis faced by many people across the country and the third linked to malnutrition have opened their eyes to the world beyond the lecture halls of the Faculty of Science of the University of Colombo. ( See box please) In a first in Sri Lanka’s university system, these are not merely life- changing experiences, but experiences which have helped them to become “employable” graduates.
With universities grappling with the perennial problem of churning out graduates whom many employers - especially in the private sector - shun, Colombo’s Science Faculty’s answer has been the ‘ Service Learning – Science in Action’ module introduced in 2012 by its Career Guidance Unit.
“This is an important programme to increase employability of graduates in the current scenario of an economy mostly based on knowledge,” explains the reticent Dean of the Science Faculty, Senior Professor T. R. Ariyaratne.
Reticent he may be but “extremely passionate” he is about the faculty’s career guidance commitment to ensure that his graduates find suitable jobs, says Prof. Preethi Udagama who helped initiate the module last year.
“We are the providers of knowledge and our task is not only the development of intellectual ability but also the enhancement of subskills including entrepreneurship and attitudes,” reiterates Prof. Ariyaratne.
Delving into science, Prof. Udagama is quick to cite the example of DNA ( linked to our genes) being depicted as a double helix, with ‘Service Learning’ being like a triple helix -
SLAAS spotlight on ‘Service Learning’
This novel pilot project on ‘Service Learning’ will be the subject of two papers that will be submitted at the 69th annual scientific sessions of the Sri Lanka Association for the Advancement of Science (SLAAS) to be held from December 2-6.
The papers will be on ‘Developing a - the university course, the community and the corporate sector. It also enables the corporate sector to study the skills of the undergraduates, while they in turn get a peek into company culture.
She pays tribute to Chandana Wijayanama who now works in Hong Kong and Prof. Manjula Vithanapathirana of the Department of Educational Psychology of the university’s Faculty of Education for their support.
It is not just community work, the Sunday Times learns. “Community service projects have hiccups. But ‘ Service Learning’ has an academic flair. It enhances the soft skills of the undergraduates and allows them to go beyond the syllabus,” says Dr. Deepthi Wickramasinghe who is handling the programme now.
Carried out in the final semester of the degree programme, ‘ Service Learning’ blends voluntary community service with academic learning, the Sunday Times understands.
The students participate in organised curricular group projects (in both biological and physical sciences) that address community needs. This helps academic achievement, acquisition of transferable skills required for the world of work and inculcation of a sense of citizenship and social, professional and ethical responsibility. It also gives them the opportunity to participate in outreach and professional development activities, it is learnt.
However, not all students would have the privilege of being part of this programme, for they should have shown their prowess at their stud- Service Learning Model: An Effective Educational Tool in Higher Education for Sri Lanka’ and ‘University, Community and Corporate Partnership: A Case Study of Service Learning Projects in the University of Colombo’. ies. “They need to satisfy the degree requirements for the first two years and have a Grade Point Average ( GPA) of 2.5 by the end of the fourth semester, says Prof. Udagama.
Explaining that it is an alternative to research projects or internships, she says that a project pro- posal may be initiated by members of the faculty, corporate sponsors or members of the community. Once a proposal is identified and approved, a project team is put together under a coordinator, who is a member of the faculty. The team will include other academics, representatives of the sponsor, members of the community being serviced and students. Each student in a project is evaluated on job/ work assignments, reports, presentations and participation.
The impact of this programme may be measured by the fact that in 2012 there were three such projects, while this year the number has risen to five.
The sparkling gem in the crown that is the ‘ Service Learning’ Programme is that those who were part of the 2012 projects have been snapped up by companies and are now holding good jobs.