Sri Lankan University students regularly protest and the police regularly beat them up. This is so regular than most people here have forgotten the underlying issues and think that students do nothing but protest. I don’t agree with most of the solutions the students call for (restricting privatization, guaranteeing government jobs), but I do agree with the grievance. The education system is a social contract we have with our youth. Work hard, go to uni, you’ll get a job. This is not necessarily a guarantee, but it should at least be a probability. In Sri Lanka university graduates actually have a higher unemployment rate than people that don’t get a higher education. So something is deeply, deeply wrong. The social contract has been broken, and I understand why they’re occupying the Ministry of Higher Education. For more on what this contract is and why it matters, have a look at this awesomely illustrated talk by Sir Ken Robinson.
When we went to school, we were kept there with a story, which is if you worked hard and did well and got a college degree, you would get a job. Our kids don’t believe that. And they’re right not to by the way.
Uni graduates have a higher unemployment rates probably because they won’t settle for the measly jobs that other people will do.
You threw the kitchen sink Indi, in that editorial in Sunday leader. Hats off.
If this doesn’t fire up the public in SL, those guys have the lousiest dicks on earth.
I can’t understand why our graduates wait for jobs to come to them, instead of generating jobs for themselves and for others. The quality of our degrees can’t be so bad if they are still recognised for granting scholarships for higher education at prestigious universities abroad. So it can’t be that they are incapable, just unwilling.
Their reward for working hard is a place in the limited intake to university, which is free in this country. Their responsibility is to make use of the valuable knowledge they gain in a way that benefits them and the country. To me it seems wrong for them to keep asking what the country can do for them.
Well, you need capital to generate jobs. If you have that already, then why the hell did you get an arts degree from a government uni?
That’s a bit unrealistic, Shammi. Most of the job opportunities for Sinhalese-educated graduates is in the government sector. So telling them to generate their own jobs is pointless. As Lefroy said, if they had that ability they wouldn’t have bothered with uni.
Well an arts degree is fine. But you won’t be getting employment as an artist. You’ll have to supplement your education with something else.
Like selling paintings on Green Path?
Well they need to market themselves better to the corporate world. Do CIMA, learn some English etc..
That would be trying to male a living as an artist.
That’s what banks are for aren’t they? A bank would be better disposed to towards extending a loan to a graduate with a good business plan. Green Path may not be the same as Montmarte, but why not open your own galley? Get some friends to supply pottery, sculpture, soft furnishing and stuff? Suburbs are expanding and people are building homes. Households and offices are more interested in interior decor than they used to be. I’m sure one could make a decent living if not a fantastic one if one had a little imagination.
What are the other arts subjects? Languages, geography, I don’t know what else. I know there is a dearth in good Sinhala literature for children. Other than Sybill Wettasinghe’s books, I could do better than what is available in the bookstores. The language and illustrations are mediocre. Parents do buy books for their kids these days.
Hey, I’ve got a better idea. Maybe I should open a consultancy firm for unemployed graduates.
CIMA is a costly business, beyond the reach of parents who’ve already supported them through university. If they could speak English they could get jobs. It’s those that don’t have either that are protesting on the road.
They need to be a little more enterprising.
If i were a banker i’d feel safer giving a loan terrorist than an artist.
Look there is no way on earth these people can make living as artist. Even the vast majority of people who graduate from fancy american art schools find it difficult to employ themselves as artists. Because artists can earn money only if they are exceptional. unlike accountants and code monkeys.
So for the most part people with an arts back ground will have to do something else, but use the soft skills they have gathered in uni to supplement this work. For example literature students often tend to be effective communicators. arts students are often creative and can analyse problems from different perspective. These type of skills are useful in the corporate world.
If CIMA is too costly they should get another part time job to get money for those type of thing. I’m sure they can find odd night shifts at all sorts of places.
And English they will have to learn. Of course learning English is relatively easier these days and I see alot more people with some functional command of the language.
So why aren’t they doing those things? They hang around for the government to furnish the jobs after they’ve been provided with an education. I don’t understand why they wait until they pass out to think about jobs. Aren’t they given some kind of career counselling or a realistic view of the available opportunities while in university? Or do they fall for the election promises?
:D Get your point about artists and money but those people protesting on the road are not all fine arts graduates. Maybe it’s a lack of career guidance, or maybe it’s foolish pride that’s making them reluctant to start somewhere nearer the bottom, not relising that they could climb up quicker once they get the hang of the ropes. They unfairly expect to be employed immediately at a top position I guess.
Delusions of grandeur
Indi’s points about higher education are good. However, here is another perspective. There are a number of more fundamental problems with education as a whole that climax in the higher education sector; eg, to some degree one can get away with rote learning, the unquestionable authority of the instructor and the lack of debate overall at the primary and secondary level but it is nigh impossible at a university level. This distinction originates from the fact that universities are intended for goals that are different to secondary eduction: universities are intended to teach people to think critically, learn how to learn and present complex ideas. It is the failure of the system to do this that is the cause of the lack of employability and the general grievance overall. This may also explain the fact that Arts (Fine Art is a subset of the Arts) students seem to suffer disproportionately as the above three skills are largely ignored in the arts while in the sciences they are better developed.
Just for a bit of debate I’ll throw this little bit about vernacular education. When the idea of vernacular education at a university level was proposed to Sir Ivor Jennings his response, in addition to reservations about losing access to debates and instructors in English, was “Anyone who makes a speech about vernacular [higher] education, should then write a book in the vernacular before he makes his next speech” (A rather rough paraphrase as I am quoting from memory) which underlies the point that 99% of the literature on most subjects is not accessible in the vernacular and hence teaching is impossible. Rather it may be better to put students whose English is inferior in a special programme for a a year or two (depending on their ability) to bring them upto speed. (Those who fail at the end of two years can be sent home)
PS When I referred to the failure of the Arts to develop the three skills it was with reference to Sri Lanka specifically and more broadly to Asia as well.
I think it’s you two who are being unrealistic. It’s all very well to say that they should do this and they should do the other. The point is that the majority of uni students don’t speak English, and learning English to the standard necessary to sit a CIM or CIMA examination is no easy thing. Also, if they were able to do the latter two exams (even if they could afford it), they’d be doing that instead of going to uni. The point is that the state universities in SL prepare you mostly for jobs that are in the state sector — civil and government service, education, state engineering, law, agriculture, etc — and therefore it’s not unreasonable for the graduates to expect the jobs that the state has been preparing them for. The resources for a career in IT or the mercantile sector are very few and the graduates in these subjects are a fraction of the whole. If we expect graduates who are prepared for work in the private sector, WE should be preparing them — and guess who’s in charge of that? — the state universities. If we recognize that English is a requirement for work in the private sector, then it should be part of our secondary and uni education.
The graduates are not protesting the lack of jobs in the private sector (which are snapped up by English-speaking secondary school leavers, with or without additrional qualifications); they already know they’re not gonna get those. They’re protesting the lack of jobs in the sectors they’re being educated for.
It’s very easy to look at them and say that they’re being given a free ride and are ungrateful, but the point is it’s hard to be grateful for something that’s next to useless. When I got into advertising as a trainee, I was working alongside applied arts graduates from the Colombo Arts Faculty , and in a couple of years I was earning as much or more than them. They were graduates, I had my O/Ls. I didn’t need their degrees, which were therefore useless. The only thing Heywood prepares you for is to teach art to more hapless art students. So today we have those who can afford it paying to go to places like the School of Design. Some of the art directors who work for me are saving money so that one day they can go get a formal qualification from a place like this. Wouldn’t it be better if the state unis were already giving them these skill sets as part of the great free education? Bullshit is still bullshit even if it’s free.
And Dodo, unlike where you live there aren’t high-paying parttime jobs that will fund private education — why don’t you go ask an eatery how much they’ll pay for a parttime waiter.
You guys are rather removed from reality, and I suggest you get a clue before waxing eloquent on subjects you have no real contact with.
Sorry that shoulda been “fine arts graduates” not “applied arts”.
I don’t think they’re expecting top jobs, just one that their degrees qualify them for. For example a graduate of John Kotalawela (with a degree in a military subject) joins the Armed Forces one rank above an officer cadet with only A/Ls (lieutenant and 2nd lieutenant respectively in the Army) — hardly a top job.
Oh no, I don’t presume to know much on the subject, not having been near a university other than for sightseeing purposes. However one would expect a graduate to have comprehend the realities of the job market and have a plan for when they graduate. It’s as if they don’t think of these things at all during the 3 or 4 yrs. they spend as undergrads. Don’t they discuss these things with their lecturers or seniors? Picketing for better opportunities is ok, but saying they’ve been jobless for years is absurd.
The reason why some organisations prefer to employ school leavers as trainees is that they can be moulded to fit the requirement. They absorb the culture and gain the necessary expertise on the job. This too is hard work, and is recognised and rewarded. Our graduates should respect that. Whatever skills they aquire in university would help them to climb the corporate ladder faster afterwards.
As much as it is the responsibility of the degree awarding institute to fashion the syllabuses to cater to the job market, it’s also the responsibility of the undergrads to make the effort to broaden their knowledge with research, which doesn’t seem to be happening. I don’t believe there is much reference material in the vernacular. So, they are less disdainful about English now I think, and computer literacy also helps. I think the universities do offer English courses now, but I’m not sure how effective they are.
Aren’t the prospects and the prestige much higher though? I’m sure those graduates never complain. And they’ll have 100% job security won’t they? I know two fellows who did engineering there who seem to be quite happy.
Unemployed graduates are something that came after the politicisation of the Universities.
Previously, University of Ceylon graduates were employable worldwide, in fact there was such a brain drain in the 1960’s that in 1971 an act was passed to make a minimum period of public service compulsory.
see
http://www.lawnet.lk/section.php?file=http://www.lawnet.lk/docs/statutes/stats_1956_2006/indexs/Vol2/1961Y0V0C70A.html
You reap what you sow.
Interference in the schools, Universities and the tea industry have now borne fruit.
The effects of the policies of today will be felt decades into the future. Its easy to destroy, very difficult to build.
No more prestigious than for a degree holder in an equivalent civil job. A degree certainly gives the holder a jump on the competition when it comes to getting a desirable posting, promotion, etc, but it’s only one of many factors such as experience in relevant fields, ability in certain skill sets, etc.
Your comment in the other conversation thread about the private sector preferring school leavers is significant. The private sectors requirements are seen to be different, and they feel uni graduates will not be able to adapt themselves to the mercantile sector. This may or may not be justified, but reinforces my previous point — the universities are preparing students for the government sector, where often seniority and qualifications rule over actual ability. If the state universities can produce graduates suited for both the private and public sectors, these graduates won’t be obliged to the GoSL to provide jobs — they can go out and get the ones available or create their own. But state unis don’t necessarily cultivate individual enterprise, perhaps because the sector they’re targeting doesn’t reward it either.
So whichever way you look at it the GoSL must field the responsibility; either to revamp the education system to produce more capable graduates, or to provide jobs for the sort of graduates they’re producing. Expecting students to change the system they’re in is unrealistic — the ones enterprising enough to even attempt that aren’t interested in a useless degree. They’d rather put themselves through a paying private institution (if they can afford it), or look for alternatives. Either way, it’s a failure of the education system, and the GoSL (nor us) are justified in taking the protestors to task. Not until a satisfactory system is being implemented.
Sorry, the act was passed in 1961.
A distant uncle of mine was relating a story of how, when he was traveling in England in 1958, the University of London decided that a degree from the University of Ceylon could be given equal accreditation as one from the University of London. He decided to stay on in England and found a job almost immediately.
David, i think you are wrong here. Firstly, the arts degree doesn’t prepare people work in the government service. A arts degree is hardly useful anywhere and from any place be it pera or harvard. So if someone expect to get a a BA in English or Sinhala and get a job that has something to do with the subject matter he/she was taught in Uni, that person is seriously out of touch with reality. In the past, the Government probably gave preference for people with degrees because they think these people are somehow more intelligent and more industrious. Now they hire arts degrees to appease the mob. And i don’t see how this can be fixed as long as you study arts. One thing that can be done is to teach these people how to think critically and teach them how to use the intellectual faculties they acquire as arts grads in other fields. Of course both of these are difficult to teach and should more or less be grasped by the students on thier own. both of which will be useful in any sector be it mercantile or government.
Secondly, CIM & CIMA doesn’t require a lot of english. Especially the inital stages, this is something they will have to teach themselves. And it’s not impossible. And it’s entirely possible to be in uni and go to CIMA tuition. It’s not like university work here takes up a lot of time. You can easily devote about 10 hours a week for CIMA, and that should be all you need. A part time job can certainly fund a private education. CIMA will cost you about 30000 rupee per annum this is something you can save if you are willing to sacrifice it. And david, you must realize that while American part time jobs pay better, the cost there is far higher for education, and they don’t get mahapola which is about 5-7 thousand rupees per month now. They also don’t get 15 cent meals.
In your first paragraph, you are pointing out the holes in the system, which is my point too. The uni system is in fact full of holes, just as is the entire SL education system. Let’s not even begin to discuss the government sector. Until these holes are addressed, the problem will not go away. So you can sit here and say this is what the students should do till the cows come home, and it’s pretty pointless when the system basically prevents it. The system has to be changed.
If the arts degree has no useful purpose as a source of income, then the percentage of arts students versus other degrees should be reduced. There should be realistic career advice given, and students should be made to understand what sectors are open to them. There are many such things that need to be done (far more than I can name), and it is incumbent upon the GoSL to do them. The GoSL and a lot of the middle and upper classes seem to have the attitude that “we’ve given the buggers a free education and they’re still grumbling” which is patently unhelpful.
Yes, students can do CIMA and uni at the same time, but why should they? They might as well do just CIMA and save the taxpayer some money. Which is what many are doing by funding their own education, and which I already pointed out. In effect you’re agreeing that the uni system isn’t working, and suggesting that students follow alternate education methods. Fine, but then let’s stop providing free education that’s basically useless.
What I’m saying is, instead of trying to defend a failing system and suggesting that the students themselves make up for the system’s failures, let’s fix the system so that the vaunted free education system we’re fond of trumpeting about actually works.
I used to have the same opinion of arts degrees until I met a few graduates of the older era. The issue we have is with the quality of the University which churns out people who have degrees but cannot think.
What a good degree will do (and I’m not very sure how good a local degree is) is to make a man think properly. Once the mind is trained it can be applied to many things – a period of apprenticeship is required to ‘learn the trade’ but once that is done, they make fine administartors.
This was how the civil service of old worked, brightest graduates had to site for a grueling exam, face a viva and then be inducted as cadets. For two years they spent learning all aspects of the work.
I don’t have a high regard for the vocational qualifications : accountancy, engineering, law and the like – they teach a set of skills that are useful for business hence it is easy to find employment but getting these creatures to think outside the box or look at the larger picture is for the most part far more difficult. (There are exceptions, but they are few and far between).
University graduates are still respected in our society. They’re the relatively brighter ones if not the brightest. If the courses they’re set are causing structural unemployment, as in fine arts, they are justified in identifying the weaknesses and urging reforms. If English is the problem, then ask for that, for the undergrads.
But if a university education is more than just aquiring a store of knowledge, but more of aquiring the capability to understand and solve problems then a graduate should be able to distinguish himself in any environment.
Therefore a graduate asking for the government to guarantee him a job, is accepting that he has not aquired the level of education/maturity expected from him. The reason for this may be debatable, expecting to be spoonfed, equally inept teachers, lack of facilities or whatever.
I don’t think any of them are asking to be guaranteed a job; they’re just asking for more jobs, which isn’t unreasonable. English alone isn’t good enough, and do you seriously expect them to demand English classes when they’re regularly told that Sinhalese is all they need and that the west can fuck off?
The thing that both you and Dodo refuse to accept is that the system is fatally flawed. Putting the onus on the students is useless. The system has to be changed.
I’m sure there are flaws in the system, as there would be if the government and politicians are involved, but I think there are also opportunities for those willing to take them. This may be less so for arts grads. But they should not feel that a degree by itself is going to bring jobs to their feet. They should concentrate on developing their personality to make it easier for them to be employed.
David, government jobs are exactly what those picketing grads were asking for if I remember correctly. The system is flawed if you think the govt. is responsible for assuring jobs for graduates. I don’t subscribe to that. I suspect the flaw is elsewhere. The present lecturers may not be of the same quality as they used to be, and don’t conduct any research and update their material as they should. I wish some academic types could enlighten us on this. I also suspect that undergrads are lazy and not willing to put in too much hard work to give their degree the quality it should have.
Contrary to what you say, I believe most of them do realise the value of English now. The ‘kaduwa’ era must have passed with the advent of the internet, and the realisation that the corporate world runs in English. Unfortunately it must be a little difficult to master if one is not exposed to the language from a young age, and the habit we have of laughing at mistakes must surely be very inhibiting, but even that is passing. What I feel is that personal development is the key to better employability for our graduates.
David to be honest I don’t think Sri Lankan universities are that bad. An upper class from a uni here will get you into grad school in America, and our guys routinely win Fulbright scholarships. The quality of education is actually pretty good.
And people are actually encouraged to study in the English medium; this is why before the beginning of first year they are given an extensive English language course that lasts 2-3 months. I have severe doubts that the faculty actually advocate ‘Sinhalese is all you need’ attitude. The JVP elements in the student union might, but faculty probably doesn’t considering the fact that most of these people got their Phds from England, Australia, Canada or USA.
The problem of art graduates being unemployable is a universal one, and one that cannot be fixed easily by policy. They will have to find way of marketing the skills they have acquired in Uni. And think of way to apply the reasoning skills you’ve acquired in Uni in the corporate world. These chaps will also have to do some vocational training and force themselves to learn English. Star off at shitty positions and then hopefully work your way upwards.
And the government certainly shouldn’t be held responsible for their lack of employability. You are given a free education, what you make of it is not the government’s business. Students have no right to whine about non-employability. And it seems to me that only the arts students whine. Take the physical science students, most of these chap are thoroughly unemployable. It’s not like a BS in physics is of any use in the Sri Lankan market. Do we hear these people complaining all the time about unemployment? And they somehow get along finding jobs. They go do CIMA or whatever while in uni. When they get out they get jobs in the mercantile sector. None of these people will ever use a single physics theorem they learned at Uni during work. The Science degree is simply there to show that they are intelligent, etc…The same goes for Engineers. Most of these chaps do something else to supplement their tertiary education. And engineers are like the Crème de la crème of the physical sciences. The only people who I hear complaining are the Arts grads.
Shammi, really?? They’ve got to now develop their personalities to get jobs. How far do they have to go? It’s a degree for god’s sake, not puberty. I guess nothing will change. In ten years they’ll still be demanding jobs and people like you will still be calling them ungrateful.
Shammi & Dodo, my apologies. I should have dropped it after my comment about you two being out of touch with reality. I could continue this but I’d just be repeating things that you’re both ignoring in my earlier comments. Sorry to have wasted everyone’s time :)
No, you didn’t waste my time. One day I can tell my grandkids that I once had a conversation with David Blacker.
Dodo, you are one conceited bird. Aren’t you one of the creme de la creme you mentioned?
Nope. I studied abroad.
and I was telling the truth anyway. It’s the most difficult place to get into in the physical sciences. For biological sciences this will be Colombo medical faculty
Believe you. I think I heard that Katubedda Eng. faculty distinguished itself as best in some field or other recently, didn’t it? IT I think.
Doctors don’t have it easy at all at the beginning. Even after graduation they have a gruelling internship and even after that have to be on call 24 hrs. for some years.
My bro who’s a dental science grad from Pera had it really easy. He came home every weekend and I never saw him study at home. After graduating he had to work in a remote area for a period, but easily managed to get sponsors to support his research for an MSc and MD afterwards. I don’t believe he ever worked an 8 hr. day, aparently there were more staff than dental chairs and equipment in the govt. sector. He spent a lot of time at home babysitting and playing childish computer games, and on some evenings did some private practise. He’ll kill me if he knew I divulged this of course, even annonymously.
Now he’s on paid leave from the govt. doing overseas training for 1 yr. after which he becomes a consultant. This is why I thought there were plenty of opportunities in the system.