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© Proceedings of the Ruhuna Quality Assurance Sessions 2021 (RUQAS 2021)
st
21 September 2021

RP13
Perception of Academics on Quality Assurance in Higher Education in Sri Lanka

P.N.M.M. Wijerathna*, D.M.M.L. Sandeepani, M.G.T. Lakmali and G.C. Samaraweera

Department of Agricultural Economics, of Faculty of Agriculture, University of Ruhuna, Mapalana,
Kamburupitiya

*Corresponding author: pnmalsha,madu.96@gmail.com

Abstract

Academic staff, being one of the main stakeholder groups, has a major responsibility to maintain

quality standards in higher education. Their perception has a significant impact on the quality of the
higher education system in any country. However, academics’ perspective on quality assurance (QA)

in higher education has not been well explored yet in the existing literature, in particular in the Asian
context. Thus, this study was conducted with the aim of finding out academics’ perception on QA in

higher education in Sri Lanka. Purposive sampling technique was used to select academics from ten

faculties namely; Faculty of Agriculture (n=68), Faculty of Engineering (n= 85) Faculty of Medicine
(n=91), Faculty of Humanities and Social Science (n=115), Faculty of Management and Finance

(n=81), Faculty of Allied Health Science (n=23), Faculty of Technology (n=39), Faculty of Science
(n=80), Faculty of Fisheries and Marine Science (n=30), Faculty of Graduate Study (n=1) of the

University of Ruhuna. A Google form questionnaire consisting of five-point Likert scale questions
(1= strongly disagree 5= strongly agree), closed ended questions and check list type questions, was

prepared to collect primary data and it was sent to all academics via their university emails. The link

was disabled after 14 days of circulation and 67 responses were obtained and the response rate was
10.9%. According to the results, 58.2% respondents were little aware and their knowledge on QA in

higher education needs to be further enhanced. Wilcoxon Sign Rank test results obtained from the
responses with respect to each statement on impact of QA on teaching and learning process revealed

that all statements were valid and significant (p=0.000). According to the results of Wilcoxon Sign

Rank test, the impact of QA on academics to develop their professional performance(p=0.000),
enabling their continuous learning, motivating to involve in university activities, improve teaching

strategies and methods (.000), helping to develop curriculum and course content(p=0.000) were
significant. Majority (85.1%) of participants stated that identifying strengths and weaknesses in quality

assurance practice is the major responsibility of the internal quality assurance system while 76.1%

respondents identified best practices in educational delivery in Sri Lankan universities as the major
requirement for the nationwide QA system in Sri Lanka. From the sample, 83.5% of respondents

highly expected providing a national QA framework for respective higher educational institutes as a
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