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

Keynote Speech of the Ruhuna Quality Assurance Sessions 2021

Internalizing Good Practices in Quality Assurance

Professor Colin N. Peiris

Emeritus Professor, University of Peradeniya and Director, Academic Development and Quality

Assurance, Sri Lanka Institute of Information Technology, Malabe

Introduction

Quality of higher education is one of the most critical issues since the outcomes of higher education

will have a significant impact on the economic and social development of the country and it has to
become a priority area for both higher education institutions and the policy makers.

The concept of quality in higher education varies depending on the stakeholder opinion in perspective.
This represents a considerable challenge for the development of a comprehensive and credible quality

assurance system for higher education. Students may define quality in terms of their experience about

the facilities and the performance of the faculty. Parents may describe it according to the employability
of their children upon completion of the degrees. The faculty may evaluate the staff development

activities conducted. The employers consider the competence of the graduates joining their
organizations and for the institutions it may mean the quality and quantity of academic and research

outputs. Although challenging, it might be a worthwhile exercise to try to get to know all the
stakeholders’ views and perceptions of the quality of higher education and fulfill the expectations of

all the stakeholders (Tobi and Duque, 2015). The ultimate goal is to achieve “quality education” as

“fitness for the purpose”.

Quality Assurance in Higher Education

Quality assurance was introduced to Sri Lankan universities as an initiative of the Committee of Vice‐

Chancellors and Directors (CVCD) in 2001. As a result, internal quality assurance units were
established in the public universities in 2005 which coordinated the activities with the Quality

Assurance and Accreditation Council (QAAC) for Higher Education (Internal Quality assurance
Manual for Sri Lankan Universities, 2013). With this establishment quality assurance in higher

education in Sri Lanka became a major component of university teaching. With the availability of
World Bank funding, the public higher education sector was able to launch many activities related to

quality assurance as it has been a major requirement at the university level over the past 10 years.

Concern in quality assurance in non-state institutes is much more than in state universities as students
must pay for their education. Moreover, quality matters much more in molding students into

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