stakeholder Buy-in Events

Six Sri Lankan Partners of the Project ENACT conducted the stakeholder Buy-in Events

With the overall objective of widening the consultation on the training and improvement needed in order to strengthen the non-academic system, processes and structures in the operations of the Sri Lankan universities, Eastern University of Sri Lanka, Rajarata University, University of Ruhuna, Sri Lanka Technological Campus, University of Moratuwa and the University of Peradeniya, conducted university level the stakeholder buy-in- events in the month of March and April 2021.

Staff representing Senior management, High-level administration, Students, Academic staff and Non-academic support staff at various levels in the hierarchy, at various positions and with various duties were requested to participate in these discussions either on physical and virtual platforms.

The meetings were held in the format of round-table discussions where the participants openly spoke about the deficiencies and gaps that they perceive in the existing non-academic system.

Common Training Needs identified

Common Training Needs were identified by the Sri Lankan Partners in eleven (11) thematic areas namely;

  1. Human Resource management practices
  2. University administration
  3. Networking and transfer of good practices
  4. Financial management
  5. Accounting and auditing
  6. Organizational efficiency and productivity
  7. Soft Skills
  8. Internationalization
  9. Diversity and equality issues
  10. Library Services
  11. Other

Furthermore, the participants jointly tried to come up with a plan on how to address or mitigate some of the issues through training that will be provided through the project ENACT. With the consultation of the EU partners, Sri Lankan partners are now ready to design the training curricula to address the gaps and issues identified by the stakeholders of each university.

  1. Eastern University, Sri Lanka

With the overall coordination of Dr.J.Sutha, mainly Dr.Anton Arulrajah, Dr.N.Rajeshwaran, Prof V.Kanagasingam, Mr.A.Pahirathan, Mr.A.Sujendran, Mr. M M Mohamed Fareez, Mr.M.Ravi, and Mr.V.Navirathan were involved in the research team. In Eastern University, 05 Senior management respondents, 06 higher-level administration members, 11 non-academic staff members. 03 academic staff members and 95 students (via zoom) participated as respondents in this buy-in-event.

 2. Sri Lanka Technological Campus

SLTC ENACT project team under the supervision of SLTC Project Manager for ENACT, Dr. Nanda Gunawardhana conducted 4 sessions of round table discussions including representatives from Senior management, High-level administration, non-academic staff, Teaching staff and students.

3. University of Peradeniya

Three (03) round table discussions were conducted in University of Peradeniya. Prof. Chalinda Beneragama, the Director of Staff Development Center was the moderator of the program.

4. University of Moratuwa

The Coordinating Team of the University of Moratuwa conducted round table discussions with the 5 target groups in the University Community to identify the necessary training needs of the Administrative Officers. The suggestions and views including the necessary skills lacked at present were highlighted by the 5 groups such as Senior Management, Academic Staff, Non-Academic Staff, Students as well as the Administrative officers and they were collected. The outcome was very worthy for the planning of Training process and this information gathered was transferred on the specified format to the main Coordinator, the Eastern University of Sri Lanka.

5. Rajarata University

Rajarata University conducted the round table discussions with the management, academic members and non-academic staff members of the university.

6. University of ruhuna

University of Ruhuna conducted the sessions using google forms collect feedback from the staff members and students.