About the Program

The Faculty of Science of the University of Peradeniya identifies the employability of its General Degree graduates as the most critical challenge it faces in the next few years and has studied the options available to the Faculty to meet this challenge. A self-evaluation undertaken by the Faculty led to the identification of five major strategic issues: Quality of programme, Undergraduate performance, Efficiency of management, leadership and sustainability, Social harmony and Technical empowerment for national development (QUEST). The submission of the proposal to the QEF-IRQUE project is part of our QUEST for a resolution of these issues.

The Faculty accepts its lack of success in grooming its General Degree students to function in the modern industrial environment and realizes that the three-year degree programme provides little spare time for further training or extra-curricular activities. The Faculty proposes to transform the course into a four year degree, improving the efficiency and effectiveness of the degree in the fourth year by imparting the skills necessary for graduates to face up to the challenges of the modern industrial society.

The key component, which would increase relevance and be of national benefit, is the introduction a fourth year programme including a four-month industrial training component to be bolted on to the three year General Science Degree programme. Specially designed courses in thrust areas of science important for industry are part of the fourth year programme and they are expected to make our graduates more attractive for employment in industry. The Faculty will also revise its curriculum to provide students with the communication and presentation skills demanded by today’s job market. Students will be encouraged to participate more fully in the Faculty decision making process and extra-curricular activities like the Faculty Drama festival and outreach through Science Camps. A closer integration with industry is expected from the strengthening of the newly established Science Industry Interaction Cell, which will generate income and contribute to the sustainability of the project.  A 60% increase in intake of students to the Faculty with 92 % of those who have completed three years being admitted for a fourth year of courses, an improved average GPA of 2.8, a 50% increase in students graduating with honours degrees, a 50% decrease in the waiting period for employment and a doubling of the average initial salary are improvements expected at the end of the project. Staff-student relationships are also expected to improve further while social cohesiveness amongst students and within the Faculty as a whole would be strengthened contributing to an improvement in social and intercultural harmony.