Selection to Academic Positions in the University

University of Jaffna,

4^th December 2013.

To: The Vice Chancellor, members of the Council and well–wishers of the University,

Selection to Academic Positions in the University

Selection to academic positions is the task of mainly senior academics holding administrative responsibilities: the university community and the public rightly expect that this obligation is discharged conscientiously. Regrettably, we are more and more troubled by justifications from these same senior academics for overlooking candidates with superior certified academic performances, in favour of those with inferior records. The reasons frequently given – the selected candidate performed “superbly” in the interview or the candidate’s presentation was “superb” – point to the selectors trying to cover up something seriously amiss that troubles them. Current selections will determine the academic standing of the University, and its intellectual environment, for many years to come. It is now time to refresh our minds on the criteria for selection to academic positions.

The major criterion for selection to an academic post is academic excellence. This is because University is the highest seat for learning and its teachers do not teach from text books alone. They should continually update their knowledge and prepare their students accordingly. They should capture new outcomes in their research fields and apply them in their own work. A person who had absorbed what was taught over four years and applied it well in answering questions regularly set at examinations should be most suitable for the purposes given. Hence as the first category for selection to the post of Lecturer (Probationary), the UGC has specified a First or Second Class (Upper Division) specialization in the relevant subject. Other categories are considered only when candidates in the first category are not available. When selections are made from other categories, the Council must justify it to the UGC.

UGC circular 935 states that “If the Selection Committee is not satisfied with the performance of candidate/candidates, but otherwise well qualified, such candidate/candidates be appointed as Temporary Lecturer/Lecturers for a period of one year and at the end of such period of such period they may be appointed as Lecturer (Probationary) having subjected to another interview and presentation”.

The Circular makes it clear that the certified record is the decisive criterion for selection. The presentation and interview are only to ensure that the selected candidate will not be a disaster as a teacher. It further makes it practically mandatory that the candidate having the best certified record be appointed in a temporary capacity, when there is some doubt about his capacity to teach and interviewed a year later. That makes plain the weight placed on qualification as opposed to presentation.

A Special Degree candidate has been tested in 120 credits using some 50 end-of-semester question papers (and numerous in-course assessments) by several tens of examiners. Each answer script has been marked twice by experienced examiners. The candidate had spent several hundred hours answering question papers in the examination hall. A first class is awarded based on this performance. In the selection board the Head of the Department is, in most cases, is an expert in the subject.

Is it that easy for such a board to reject the result obtained in the above manner and stamp a candidate as being unsuitable on the basis of a few questions fielded inadequately by the candidate during a brief interview lasting a few minutes?

To put it in another way: Whom should a board select to an academic post? A brilliant fresh graduate who did not do well in the presentation or one with an inferior record with better presentation skills?

We must further keep in mind that many years of war and migration have lowered the kind of exposure where students would pick up better English and present themselves more attractively. Under these circumstances it is incumbent on us to give students who have worked hard to overcome some of their handicaps and perform well during their four years at the University, their due opportunity to rise further. 

Selection on subjective criteria such as interview and performance easily becomes the means of abuse to favour those with superior connections and influence at the expense of persons from humbler backgrounds who have shown superiorability.

Once this abuse takes root, the character of the University suffers, as those selected become increasingly beholden to those in authority. 

JUSTA

Intl. Conference  at Peradeniya Uni.

December 11, 2013, 10:26 pm, the island

By Cyril Wimalasurendre

KANDY – The Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, of the University of Peradeniya, has organized an international conference on Industrial and information systems (10115 – 2013). The conference will be held at the University from December 17 to 20.

This year, the theme of the conference is, ‘Innovative Technologies for sustainable development’.

Experts from a number of countries, including Canada, Australia and India, would address the conference. Chairman Dr. Vijitha Herath said that it had attract 246 research submissions from 20 countries.

He said that in order for Sri Lanka to achieve the knowledge hub status in Asia it was necessary to organise such international technology conferences in the country.

Such conferences would provide local technology researchers a platform to interact with the experts from around the world and in turn would improve the quality of the local researchers and technologists, Dr. Herath said.

Delays in university admissions: solution urgently needed

December 11, 2013, 12:00 pm , the island


Sri Lanka is probably the only country where students have to wait for a long period of more than one year to start their university education after sitting the AL examination. The new batch of students who have been selected for admission to universities on the results of the A/L examination conducted in August 2012 are yet to commence their respective courses of study though more than 14 months have elapsed. According to a recent University Grants Commission (UGC) announcement, admissions to the universities are to commence in January 2014.

The state universities are notoriously afflicted with many problems causing disruptions to their smooth running - main contributory factors being student unrest, ragging, and staging of strikes by both academic and non-academic staff with least regard to the well-being of the student population. The end result is that students complete their courses of study much later than their counterparts in foreign universities and those other institutions of tertiary education.

Eventually, new graduates enter the job market usually 3 or 4 years behind those of foreign universities. In case of medical graduates the average age they complete their degrees is around 27 years at present whereas the norm is 24 years.

It is incomprehensible why the Examinations Department takes more than five months to release results, and the UGC to admit students to the universities taking even a longer period of time. With the availability of modern technology the Exams Dept and the UGC should be able to publish results more accurately and in time, but unfortunately this has not happened. There are no properly scheduled dates for conduct of examinations, release of results or admission of students to universities.

In contrast to the prevailing scenario in Sri Lanka, one can find how smoothly the Indian university entrance examinations are conducted and admissions to universities are completed within a specific period of time without a lag as it happens here. In India the Grade XII examination of the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) is conducted in March each year and results are released at the end of May or early June, and students are admitted to universities in September. It is to be noted that the Grade XII CBSE examination is conducted in many foreign centers as well and the numbers sitting are around one million. The due process takes place there without a hitch or without inaccuracies.

The public university system of Sri Lanka has struggled with these issues for over two decades, and it is an unacceptable impediment to national economic growth as well as the individual prosperity of the youth of the country. It is time for the relevant institutions and authorities to deliver a solution to this problem, whether it be by administrative reforms, increased funding and investment for public education or the induction of private universities to the national education system.

Ananda Dodanwela
Nugegoda