The Improving Relevance and Quality of Undergraduate Education (IRQUE) project, which is operating under the Policy Planning and Development Unit (PPDU) of the Ministry of Education, for the first time, has initiated a competitive Quality Enhancement Fund (QEF) grants for higher educational institutes of Sri Lanka with the aim of enhancing the quality and relevance of the undergraduate courses.

The grant obtained under the project is about 85 million rupees to the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Science for Veterinary Science Study Program. The most of the funds will be utilized in the Veterinary Teaching Hospital with modern facilities such as ultrasound scanners etc., and also for animal clinical training. Substantial amount of funds will also be utilized to train the staff in emerging areas such as fish biology and wild life management. In addition, large stock of latest editions of books for the veterinary medical library, new computer and peripherals for the computer unit are also come under main development activities proposed.

The veterinary science study program, the only study program in the Sri Lankan university system that leads to the professional degree in Veterinary Science (BVSc), which has a steady demand for employment, has not been able to fully satisfy students’ and employers’ expectations owing to shortcomings in the undergraduate curriculum, educational resources and process, and learning environment.

In the self-evaluation of BVSc study program, thirty five problems were identified and stratified into 8 strategic issues initially. Numerous root causes were identified, alternative solutions were proposed and 21 activities were identified. Upon the recommendations of the reviewers, the stratification was revised and the activities were grouped into five strategic issues, namely i) Relevance and National Benefit, ii) Social and Intercultural Harmony, iii) Efficiency and Productivity, iv) Sustainability and v) Other. Three activities proposed were deleted and remaining 18 activities were regrouped into 8 major activities with a total of 28 sub-activities.

The overall objective of the project is to improve the relevance and quality of veterinary science - undergraduate study program thereby to improve the knowledge and core veterinary competencies and skills of the veterinary graduates. It is envisaged that the proposed activities that are to be implemented through IRQUE-QEF project would improve the relevance and quality of BVSc study program thus producing competent veterinary graduates who would be very competitive in the job market, satisfy employers and clients, and contribute effectively to the national development.

The strategies and specific objectives of the major activities pursued under each strategy are;

I) Relevance and National Benefit

Activity 1: Revision of BVSc curriculum
Activity 2: Improving the core veterinary competencies and skills
Activity 3: Improving ‘soft’ competencies and skills – Communication, IT, analytical and entrepreneurial skills
Activity 4: Establish links with ‘World of Work’

II) Social and Intercultural Harmony

Activity 5: Improving understanding and awareness of the principles of social and intercultural harmony and create opportunities for greater interactions among students and staff

III) Efficiency and Productivity

Activity 6: Improving the capacity of the academic and technical staff, academic learning process and support system and guidance for student-centered learning

IV) Sustainability

Activity 7: Improving internal management

V) Other

Activity 8: Improving academic atmosphere