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

exogenous encounters coming as policy recommendations or directives or motivational threads of
consultations or training experience.

This comprehensive analysis provides an ample pathway to comment on the need for curriculum

revision in the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Ruhuna. Two clusters of

factors enforced a syllabus revision in the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences. Firstly, the
external factor: the unemployability of graduates in Humanities and Social Sciences, which has long

been raised in different platforms by different parties. The research emphasised that these graduates
lack the skills and the attitudes required for the present-day world of work (Ariyawansa, 2008; The

World Bank, 2009; Gunathilake et al., 2010; National Audit Office, 2019). As a result, many parties

emphasised that the traditional curricula, which focused more on subject knowledge, needed to be
revised, enabling the graduates in Humanities and Social Sciences to succeed in the present-day job

market (Bridgstock, 2009; University Grants Commission, 2015). The higher education authorities
took the policy decisions and accordingly provided guidelines and directives that led to a drastic

change in Humanities and Social Sciences education in Sri Lanka. However, some scholars have

vehemently argued against the marketisation of humanities and social sciences, emphasising that it
would damage the discipline's core (Delucchi, 1997; Costa, 2019).

Secondly, the internal factor: the faculty had recognised the need for a curriculum revision based on its

own experience and findings. The existing curricula developed in 2014, were not updated to
incorporate the advancements in the disciplines. The faculty at that time had only two-degree

programmes i.e. BA (General) and BA (Special) programmes. Programme Reviews were done on
these two programmes in 2017, and they got B (60%) and B (68.65%) grades, respectively (Faculty

Program Review Report on BA Special and General, 2017). However, the reviewers had made some

important recommendations for further improvements in the programmes. While taking necessary
steps to implement reviewers' recommendations, the faculty started a timely discussion on the need for

a complete revision of the curricula.

Furthermore, the tracer studies on employment of most recent graduates, conducted annually by the

university, were another alarming factor that forced the faculty to rush towards a complete revision of
the existing curricula. The studies presented a declining employment rate of the graduates produced by

the faculty. Under the influence of these two factors, the faculty started the revision of the existing
curricula in 2018. We took both these views into account in the process of revision of the syllabi.

Our main objective was to produce graduates for market needs without compromising the
philosophical core of the subject disciplines.

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