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

number of academic staff was not adequate but, academic supportive staff was adequate. More than
50% of the participants were satisfied with the multimedia facility, but not with the number of lecture

halls. Approximately 50% of the participants were satisfied with pharmacy textbooks and the e-library

facilities. Only 29% of participants were satisfied with the journal accessing facilities in the library.
According to the perception of the study participants, studying pharmacy degree helped 64% of the

pharmacy graduates to obtain their desired job. Seventeen percent of participants have completed at
least one postgraduate degree to date, while 25% of participants were pursuing postgraduate degrees.

Only 60% believed that their degrees kept pace with the recent trends and development in the
pharmacy field and 55% stated that the quality of pharmacy degrees meets international standards.

Seventy eight percent of participants agreed that “Pharmacy degree programmes in Sri Lanka address

societal education needs” and 82% liked to recommend the pharmacy degree to others. From the total,
89% are currently employed in the field of pharmacy. Majority work in the government sector (46%)

while the private sector made 31%. Of the total participants, 53% claimed that they were satisfied

with their current job, and only 46% were satisfied with their salary scale.

Discussion and Conclusions

Results of this study show that 70% students expressed high overall satisfaction regarding the quality
of pharmacy degrees in Sri Lanka. Approximately 50% of participants were satisfied with the number

of academic staff, library and laboratory facilities, while 61% reported that the number of lecture halls
was not sufficient. There are few reasons for these observations. The faculties where the pharmacy

degrees are conducted are the youngest faculties of the respective universities. With the increased
number of undergraduates enrolled to the relevant faculties, the academic cadre positions are

increasing, and it will enable achieving sufficient student/teacher ratio. Furthermore, the relevant

universities and the health care authorities should develop strategies to bridge the existing gaps
between the clinical and industrial training.

Studying pharmacy degree has helped majority of the participants to obtain their desired job, however,

they were not satisfied with the salary scale. The fact that the government of Sri Lanka does not absorb

the pharmacy graduates into a considerably different salary scale in the government health sector,
might have caused this highlighted unsatisfaction for the salary scales. Possible variations in human

and physical resources available in the three universities is a limitation of this study.

In conclusion, pharmacy graduates were satisfied with the quality of the pharmacy degree programmes

conducted in Sri Lanka and with the current job, however, they were not satisfied with the facilities
available such as journal-access facilities in libraries.

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