The World Bank credit facilities influence in framing higher education quality in Sri Lanka: A case study of Commerce and Management Faculty, University of Kelaniya

Abstract

Higher education sector plays a significant role in producing intellectual and human capital for countries’ economic and social development. In Sri Lanka, graduates un-employability and limited access opportunities to higher education are critical issues of the sector in uplifting the Sri Lankan economy from lower middle income status to upper middle income status country. The policy makers have invited the World Bank to review the higher education sector during 1990s for suggesting improvements. The outcome of the study highlights the necessity of improving the quality and relevance of the higher education provided by the national universities in Sri Lanka to enable producing globally employable graduates. Between the period of 2003- 2020, the World Bank has funded through three projects, named IRQUE, HETC and AHEAD for the sector improvements. This study reviewed documentary sources to understand how these projects conceptualize ‘quality’ and impact on Sri Lankan higher education sector. As a case study, the Faculty of Commerce and Management Studies of the University of Kelaniya, was selected to reveal how their fund winning study programs have been affected by the quality perceptions of the World Bank and to understand the means through which those quality constructs were operationalized by the academic departments offering the degree programs. This study contributes as the first impact study examining implementation proposals of all three World Bank projects. Findings reveal the World Bank’s influence in framing the conception of ‘quality’ as producing graduates fit-for purpose; - purpose being the career ready graduates. In line with this, the study programs have aligned curriculum for the job-market requirements, embedded skillset demanded by the employers into formative assessment and evaluation and made changes to teaching and learning modes and methods to adopt proposed changes.