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

Majority of the students expressed their views in a positive manner towards the participation in ECA.
However, students highlighted the difficulties in joining ECA and made important suggestions which

are needed to be thoroughly discussed. This basic survey provided a good insight into a progressive

approach of ECA in the Faculty of Science.

Keywords: Extra-curricular Activities, Faculty of Science, Societies, Systematic Random Sampling
Method, Non-parametric Test (Wilcoxon rank test)

Introduction

Extra-curricular activities refer to the activities performed by the students outside the framework of

course modules. Students do not receive any grades for their involvement in ECA (Dacombe, 2014;

Chua et al., 2017). Participation in ECA depends on the students’ personal preferences. In order to
ensure quality education, it is of paramount importance to encourage undergraduates to be involved in

ECA with their full capacity amongst their routine academic work. It has been reported that students
who participate in ECA achieved better grades in their academic activities compared to students who

did not take part in any of the ECA (Ingale, 2014; Dhanmeher, 2014). Cosinger (2011) indicated that
student participation in ECA increases self-confidence, improves innate skills, leadership qualities,

mental health and team work within the university. Apart from that, involvement in ECA has a positive

impact on securing a place within a highly competitive job market.

Currently, the Faculty of Science has a total of 1182 undergraduates of which 422, 357, 324 and 79
belong to academic Levels of 1, II, III, and IV, respectively. There are numerous ECA organized by

the Faculty of Science or the University and all the students can take part in these activities based on

their personal interests. The students can join a variety of competitions and/or just participate in
diversified events organized by student societies/clubs within the Faculty (Anonymous, 2021) or

University. The objectives of this study were to explore the student participation in ECA, identify
student impression on participating ECA, difficulties associated with attending ECA and suggestions

to improve participation in ECA within the Faculty. The ultimate aim of this study was to facilitate the
process of producing graduates bearing different skills via encouraging participation in ECA in the

Faculty of Science.

Methodology

An online survey was conducted using a questionnaire which was prepared as a Google form and

uploaded to the Faculty of Science Management Information System (FOSMIS) on 17-07-2021. In the
FOSMIS, the purpose of the survey was mentioned as follows: “The purpose of this survey is to

identify your involvement in various extracurricular activities in the Faculty of Science. The ultimate
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