Tracer Study 2018

TRACER STUDY OF GRADUATES
UNIVERSITIES IN SRI LANKA
(Sponsored by the UNESCO Participation Programme 2016/2017)
Prof. PSM Gunaratne

Dr. Asoka Ramanayake
Ms. Damayanthi Panagoda
University Grants Commission

© 2018 University Grants Commission
All rights reserved.
ISBN 978-955-583-142-0
Lead Research Team

Prof. PSM Gunaratne
Dr. Asoka Ramanayake
Ms. Damayanthi Panagoda
Editorial Assistance
Dr. Romola Rassool
Analysis Team
AP Kandana Arachchi
BPTS de Silva
WADM Kanchana
NADDU Jayawardena
PHPC de Silva
UAGW Weerarathna
Bimali Weerasekera
SH Sajitha
Type Setting
Rohine Basnayake
Cover Design
Madhawee Jayasiri
University Grants Commission

Sri Lanka
2018
Acknowledgment
This publication is mainly based on a graduate tracer study conducted by the

University Grants Commission of Sri Lanka in the year 2017/18. This work would not
have been possible without the financial support of the “United Nations Educational,
Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Participation Programme
2016/2017”. Authors are grateful to both the Sri Lanka UNESCO National
Commission and the UNESCO Headquarters Paris in this regard.
Authors would also like to express their special thanks of gratitude to the Prof.
Mohan de Silva, Chairman of the University Grants Commission and the members of
the Commission for granting necessary approval to conduct this study and their
continuous guidance throughout the project.
Furthermore, we would like to acknowledge with appreciation the support of

the staff of the UGC at various levels in conducting this study under the purview of
the UGC. Our special thank are extended to the Secretary, Accountant, and other staff
of the UGC whose support was always there in aligning administrative, financial and
logistic requirements of the project during the period of this study.
We want to express our deepest gratitude to the data analysis team: AP

Kandana Arachchi, BPTS de Silva, WADM Kanchana, NADDU Jayawardena, PHPC
de Silva, UAGW Weerarathna, Bimali Weerasekera, SH Sajitha, and who provided a
professional service in conducting the surveys, cleaning and analyzing the data, and
providing necessary interpretations to the findings.
Further, we would like to express our sincere appreciation for two distinctive
groups of individual: graduates those who participated in the questionnaire survey and
telephone survey and the employers those who participated in the focus group
meetings conducted at the UGC without whose support this study would have been
impossible. The graduates survey was supplemented by the employers survey.
The study team is so grateful to Dr. Romola Rassool, Senior Lecturer,

Department of English Language Teaching, University of Kelaniya for the assistance
extended in editing the final draft of this report.
Last but not least, our special gratitude goes to the staff of the MIS division,
who shared the responsibility of conducting this study together with the main study
team throughout the project.
Table of Contents
List of Figures.....................................................................................................................iii
List of Tables ...................................................................................................................... vi
Abbreviations .................................................................................................................... vii
Executive Summary .........................................................................................................viii
Chapter 1 ............................................................................................................................. 1
Objectives and Design of the Study ................................................................................... 1
1.1 Introduction...................................................................................................................... 1
1.2 Study Objectives .............................................................................................................. 3
1.3 Data and Methodology..................................................................................................... 3
1.4 Study Design .................................................................................................................... 4
Chapter 2 ............................................................................................................................. 7
Sample Profile ..................................................................................................................... 7
2.1 Introduction...................................................................................................................... 7
2.2 General Profile of the Sample of Graduates .................................................................... 7
Chapter 3 ........................................................................................................................... 11
Analysis of the Employment Status of Graduates.......................................................... 11
3.1 Introduction.................................................................................................................... 11
3.2 Overall Employment Status ........................................................................................... 11
3.2.1 Employment Status by Gender ...................................................................................... 12
3.2.2 Employment Status by Type of the Degree ................................................................... 13
3.2.3 Employment Status by Academic Performance............................................................. 14
3.2.4 Employment Status by Medium of Instruction .............................................................. 15
3.2.5 Employment Status by Academic Stream...................................................................... 16
3.2.6 Employment Status by Academic Stream and University ............................................. 17
3.2.7 Timing of First Employment ......................................................................................... 21
3.3 Other Attributes Relevant to Graduates Employment ................................................... 24
3.3.1 Proficiency of English Language ................................................................................... 24
3.3.1.1 Proficiency of English prior to the University Entrance ................................................ 24
3.3.1.2 Use of English Language during the Undergraduate Career ......................................... 27
3.3.2 Computer Literacy ......................................................................................................... 28
3.3.3 Internship Training ........................................................................................................ 31
3.3.4 Professional Qualifications ............................................................................................ 33
3.4 Classification of Graduates' Employment ...................................................................... 35
3.4.1 Type of Employment (Full Time/ Part Time) ................................................................ 35
i
3.4.2 Sector of Employment ................................................................................................... 36
3.4.3 Economic Sector of Employment .................................................................................. 39
3.4.4 Position of Employment ................................................................................................ 42
3.4.5 Monthly Salary of Graduates ......................................................................................... 43
3.5 Unemployed Graduates - State Universities .................................................................. 46
3.5.1 General Profile of Unemployed Graduates .................................................................... 47
3.5.2 Reasons for Graduate Unemployment: Unemployed Graduates’ Perspectives ............. 48
3.6 Graduates’ Perceptions on Quality of Education received from the University- State
Universities .................................................................................................................... 49
3.6.1 Quality of Education ...................................................................................................... 49
3.6.2 Graduates’ Perception on Quality of Teaching .............................................................. 50
3.6.3 Graduates’ Perception on Opportunities for Consultation with the Teaching Faculty .. 51
3.6.4 Graduates’ Perception on Balance between the Theory and Practice with regard to
Study Programmse of the Universities .......................................................................... 52
3.6.5 Employed Graduates’ Views on the relevance of University Education to Current
Employment ................................................................................................................... 53
3.6.6 Employed Graduates’ Views on the “Importance of soft skills in securing a job”........ 54
Chapter 4 ........................................................................................................................... 56
Employers’ Perception on Graduates of state Universities ........................................... 56
4.1 Introduction.................................................................................................................... 56
4.2 Graduates Recruitments in terms of Study Streams....................................................... 57
4.3 Skills and Competencies Valued by the Employer in Graduate Recruitments .............. 58
4.4 Employer Satisfaction with the Skills and Competencies Possessed by the Graduates. 59
4.5 Challenges faced by the Employers in Recruiting Graduates ........................................ 60
4.5.1 Importance of Having Internship Training, Work Experience and Professional
Qualifications by New Graduate Recruits ..................................................................... 61
4.5.2 Factors Influencing the Employability of Graduates – Employers' Perspective ............ 62
Chapter 5 ........................................................................................................................... 64
Findings and Recommendations ...................................................................................... 64
5.1 Introduction.................................................................................................................... 64
5.2 Overall Employment Status of Fresh Graduates ............................................................ 64
5. 3 Graduates’ Attributes Rewarded in the Employment Market ........................................ 67
5.4. Reducing the Gap between Industry and Academia ...................................................... 69
5. 5 Other Recommendations................................................................................................ 71
References .......................................................................................................................... 74
ii
List of Figures
Figure 1: Response rate by Academic Stream – State Universities .............................................. 7

Figure 2: Response rate by University – State Universities ....................................................... 8
Figure 3: Gender and Ethnicity– State Universities .................................................................... 8
Figure 4: Gender –Non- State Institutions .................................................................................. 9
Figure 5: Composition by Type of the Degree ............................................................................ 9
Figure 6: Academic Stream and Medium of Instruction-State Universities ............................... 10
Figure 7: Employment Status of Graduates .............................................................................. 12
Figure 8: Employment Status by Gender .................................................................................. 13
Figure 9: Employment Status by Type of Degree ..................................................................... 13
Figure 10: Employment Status by Level of Performance - State Universities .............................. 14
Figure 11: Employment Status by Level of Performance -Non-State Institutions ......................... 14
Figure 12: Employment Status by Medium of Instruction - State Universities ............................. 15
Figure 13: Employment Status by Medium of Instruction - Arts Stream ...................................... 15
Figure 14: Employment Status by Academic Stream- State Universities ..................................... 16
Figure 15: Employment Status by Academic Stream - Non- State Institutions ............................. 17
Figure 16: Employment Status by Academic Stream - Arts ......................................................... 18
Figure 17: Employment Status by Academic Stream - Management ............................................ 19
Figure 18: Employment Status by Academic Stream - Science .................................................... 19
Figure 19: Employment Status by Academic Stream - Engineering ............................................. 20
Figure 20: Employment Status by Academic Stream - Agriculture ............................................. 20
Figure 21: Timing of the First Employment ................................................................................ 21
Figure 22: Timing of the First Employment: expanded after releasing result- State Universities 22
Figure 23: Timing of First Employment: expanded after releasing results by Academic Stream –
State Universities...................................................................................................... 23
Figure 24: Timing of the Employment by Academic Stream – Non- State Institutions ................. 23
Figure 25: Composition of the Sample in terms of Performance of English Language at the
GCE(O/L) and General English at the G.C.E(A/L) .................................................... 25
Figure 26: Employment Rates by Performance of General English at the G.C.E. (A/L) - State
Universities .............................................................................................................. 25
Figure 27: Employment Rates by Performance of English Language at the G.C.E. (O/L) - State
Universities .............................................................................................................. 26
Figure 28: Employment Rates by Performance of English Language at the G.C.E. (O/L)–Non-State
Institutions ............................................................................................................... 26
Figure 29: Use of English Language during stay at the University - State Universities .............. 27
Figure 30: Use of English Language during stay at the University- Non -State Institutions ........ 28
Figure 31: Employment Status and use of English Language ...................................................... 28
Figure 32: Status of Access to Computing at the University and Home – State Universities....... 29
Figure 33: Internet Access at the University and Home - State Universities ............................... 29
iii
Figure 34: Computer Literacy at the time of Graduation - State Universities ............................. 30
Figure 35: Ability to work with MS Office –State Universities .................................................... 31
Figure 36: Employment Status and Ability to work with MS Office –State Universities ............... 31
Figure 37: Availability of an "Internship Training" .................................................................... 32
Figure 38: Status of the Internship as a part of the Degree Programme ................................... 32
Figure 39: Support provided by the University to find the Internship ......................................... 32
Figure 40: Usefulness of the Internship to find an Employment .................................................. 32
Figure 41: Employment Status and availability of Internship - State Universities ....................... 33
Figure 42: Professional Qualifications possessed by Graduates -State Universities ................... 33
Figure 43: Professional Qualifications possessed and Academic Stream - State Universities ..... 34
Figure 44: Professional Qualifications possessed and Employment status – State Universities .. 34
Figure 45: Type of Employment (Full Time/ Part Time) – State Universities .............................. 35
Figure 46: Type of Employment (Full Time/ Part Time) by Academic Stream- State Universities 36
Figure 47: Type of Employment (Full Time/ Part Time) and Academic Stream- Non-State sector36
Figure 48: Sector of Employment – State Universities ................................................................ 37
Figure 49: Sector of Employment – Non-State Institutions ......................................................... 37
Figure 50: Sector of Employment by gender- State Universities ................................................. 38
Figure 51: Sector of Employment by Academic Stream- State Universities ................................. 39
Figure 52: Employed Graduates by Economic Sector – State Universities .................................. 40
Figure 53: Employed Graduates by Economic Sector for major Academic Stream –State
Universities .............................................................................................................. 41
Figure 54: The Position of Employed Graduates - State Universities ......................................... 42
Figure 55: The Position of Employed Graduates by Academic Stream – State Universities ........ 43
Figure 56: Distribution of Employed Graduates in terms of Monthly Gross Salary - State
Universities .............................................................................................................. 44
Figure 57: Distribution of Employed Graduates in terms of Monthly Gross Salary and Gender . 45
Figure 58: Distribution of Employed Graduates in terms of Monthly Gross Salary and Academic
Stream – State Universities ....................................................................................... 45
Figure 59: Unemployed Graduates by Gender............................................................................ 47
Figure 60: Employment Status by Academic Stream ................................................................... 47
Figure 61: Possible reasons for Unemployment – Unemployed Graduates’ Perspective ............. 48
Figure 62: Graduates’ Perceptions on Quality of Education received from the University ......... 50
Figure 63: Graduates’ Perception on Quality of Teaching by Academic Stream ....................... 51
Figure 64: Opportunities for Consultation with the Teaching Faculty by Academic Stream ........ 52
Figure 65: Graduates’ Perception on balance between Theory and Practice in relation to Study
Programme ............................................................................................................... 52
Figure 66: Relevance of University Education to Current Employment ...................................... 53
Figure 67: Percentage of Graduates Employed in irrelevant jobs with their University training
according to the Academic Stream ........................................................................... 54
iv
Figure 68: Importance of Soft Skills in Securing the Current Job: Employed Graduates’
Perspective -State Universities ................................................................................. 55
Figure 69: The most Important Soft Skills Instrumental in Securing the Current Job : Employed
Graduates’ Perspective –State Universities .............................................................. 55
Figure 70: Field of Study of Graduates recruit ........................................................................... 57
Figure 71: Skills and competencies valued by employers in Graduate recruitments .................... 59
Figure 72: Satisfaction in terms of Skills & Competencies ......................................................... 60
Figure 73: Challenges faced by Employers in recruiting Graduates mediocre ............................ 61
Figure 74: Importance of internship training, experience and professional qualifications by new
graduates-Employers’ perspective ............................................................................ 61
Figure 75 Employers’ suggestion on improving the employability of graduates ........................ 63
v
List of Tables
Table 1: Selected Sample by University & Academic Stream .......................................................... 5
vi
Abbreviations
APIIT Asia Pacific Institute Of Information Technology

CMB University of Colombo
EUSL Eastern University, Sri Lanka
GCE(A/L) General Certificate in Education(Advanced Level)
GCE(O/L) General Certificate in Education(Ordinary Level)
GER Gross Enrolment Ratio
HEIs Higher Educational Institutions
HEMS Humanities, Education, Management and Social Sciences
HETC Higher Education for Twentieth Century
HSS Humanities and Social Sciences
ICT Information and Communication Technology
IT Information Technology
KLN University of Kelaniya
LIMCs Lower Middle Income Counties
MGT Management
MRT University of Moratuwa
PDN University of Peradeniya
RUH University of Ruhuna
RUSL Rajarata University of Sri Lanka
SEUSL South Eastern University of Sri Lanka
SJP University of Sri Jayewardenepura
SLIIT Sri Lanka Institute of Information Technology
STEM Science (including Medicine), Technology, Engineering and Mathematics
SUSL Sabaragamuwa University of Sri Lanka
UGC University Grants Commission
UJA University of Jaffna
UMICs Upper Middle Income Countries
UVPA University of the Visual & Performing Arts
UWU Uva Wellassa University
WUSL Wayamba University of Sri Lanka
vii
Executive Summary
There are two critical problems faced by the higher education sector in Sri
Lanka. Despite the impressive achievements in school education both at primary and
secondary levels regarding enrolment and completion ratios, the country has failed to
create enough opportunities for its youth in the tertiary sector, especially university
education. From the annually qualifying numbers (at present approximately about
160,000 a year) for tertiary education, the state universities under the University Grants
Commission (UGC), the main route to higher education in the country, can enroll only
about 31,000 a year. The system is not sufficiently equipped to meet the long-held
aspiration for higher education of both the youth and their parents. This insufficiency
is critical in the context of the general belief of society that entering a university is an
assured source of employment and security.
The other problem that the country's higher education sector faces is
employment opportunities available to graduates and number of graduates searching for
employment opportunities at any given point of time. Finding a suitable job after
graduation is a significant challenge for most of the university graduates in the country.
This could be a reflection of the lack of opportunities created by the economy as well as
the skills mismatch between the graduates produced by the universities and the market
requirements. A large section of those in employment are not enjoying or feeling
fulfilled in their jobs. Many university graduates have taken stop-gap jobs since they
have not been able to find roles that are suitable for graduates. Therefore, feasible
efforts are required from the government, universities, and other relevant stakeholders
to address the issue of graduate employment as a national priority.
Against this backdrop, the current study assesses the employment outcomes of
graduates from 14 conventional universities under the UGC after two to three years of
graduation, with a particular emphasis on identifying the nature of the unemployment
problem that prevails among university graduates. The study was sponsored by the
UNESCO Participation Programme 2016/2017 and conducted by the UGC.
For the purpose of the current study, a potential sample of 5,000 graduates was
selected from a population of 30,270 students who graduated during the years 2014 and
2015 from the 14 conventional universities under the purview of the UGC. However,
the actual sample of the study was limited to the 1,265 graduates from the14
universities considered for the study who responded to the questionnaire survey. The
response rates were not uniform across disciplines and universities. Higher response
rates were recorded from the Arts and Education streams while the lowest was recorded
from the Computer Science/ IT streams.
viii
Out of the 1,265 graduates traced from state universities, 65.5% were employed,
32.2% were unemployed and 2.4% were engaged as volunteers. A higher percentage of
male graduates were employed (81%) compared to their female counterparts (58%).
Despite the overwhelming preference of graduates for public sector jobs, the study
revealed that 46% of the employed graduates were engaged in private sector jobs at the
time of the survey. This proves that the majority of jobs for graduates are generated by
the private sector, thus highlighting the vital role played by this sector in the economy.
The different branches of the state sector provided only 44% employment opportunities
for the graduates while the remaining 10% were engaged in either semi-government
sector employment or self-employment. Historically, a high percentage of graduates
have been absorbed into the teaching profession in Sri Lanka. This study also found
that approximately one in every four employed graduates was employed as a teacher. A
high proportion of graduates in the disciplines of Education, Arts, Performing Arts,
Agriculture, and Science join the teaching profession.
Underemployment is a significant aspect of graduate employment issue which often

remains unrecognized and is rarely analyzed. As per this study, approximately one in every
ten employed graduates of the sample was underemployed, engaged in jobs don’t require
or utilize their education, such as clerical and allied roles.
Compared to Architecture, Computer Science/ IT, Allied Health Science and

Engineering graduates whose employment rates were over 90% within about two years
of graduation, graduates from other disciplines seem to be less dynamic in finding jobs.
The only exception is the graduates from the field of Education as all of them have
been absorbed into the teaching profession by the state. The lowest employment rates
were recorded by the graduates from the Arts (45.6%) and Performing Arts (37.1%)
disciplines. Employment rates among graduates not only vary across disciplines but
also among universities. This variation is high among HEMS graduates compared to
STEM graduates.
With regard to other attributes of graduates, it was observed that there is a clear
relationship between enhanced English language skills and the employability of
graduates. In the absence of a common measure to determine the English language
skills of graduates, the results of the GCE (A/L) General English exam and GCE (O/L)
English Language exam were used as alternative measures of the English language
proficiency of the graduates in this study. Accordingly, it was revealed that over 88%
of the graduates who had an “A” for the GCE (A/L) General English were employed
while the employment rate among graduates who had failed in GCE (A/L) General
English was 48.6%. Alarmingly, 38.8% of the graduates who responded to this survey
had failed the General English paper at the GCE (A/L) exam. A similar association was
also observed between the graduates’ performance at their GCE (O/L) English
Language exam and their employment status. Another important attribute of graduates
that helps them in securing past employment after graduation is the training they
received through internship placements. A significant percentage of graduates who had
ix
gone through internship training were employed compared to the graduates who had
not gone through such study-related internship programmes as a part of their course of
study. Interestingly, despite their employment status after graduation, a majority of the
graduates have a positive perception regarding the quality of education they received at
the university. They seem to view their degree as a good investment for their future,
despite the hostile job market they have to confront.
In this study, the graduate survey was supplemented with an employer survey
which was conducted to ascertain employer perceptions of university graduates
regarding their knowledge, skills, and attitudes in relation to employer expectations and
to identify any perceived deficiencies in this regard. The findings revealed that
employers were extremely satisfied with the performance of local graduates regarding
their numerical skills, practical use of IT, and ability to work in teams. Generally, they
were happy with the content knowledge of graduates as opposed to their application of
that knowledge to a particular situation. However, they expressed their frustration
about local university graduates with regard to their skills in communication, use of the
English language, decision making skills, and reading/writing skills. One has to be
cautious about these conclusions as the views expressed by the employers are mainly
based on their experience about graduates that they have already employed. The issues
associated with unemployed graduates could be more serious.
The graduate employment problem is a complex one which cannot be addressed

by simple solutions. In the context of the current issue, Sri Lanka as a country may
have to redefine the goals of its higher education system in order to develop
professionally competent, service-oriented, principled and productive citizens. The
Higher Educational Institutions of this country must commit to a mandate to prepare
students for the world of work. The effectiveness of an academic programme offered by
a university can be best measured through the competencies, knowledge, and skills of
its graduates and how they can be applied in the world of work. Therefore, it is crucial
that the outcomes of the educational programmes offered by our universities are studied
as a mean of understanding how well the graduates apply the knowledge and skills they
acquired at University in the professional environment, irrespective of the discipline
they represent.
x
Chapter 1
Objectives and Design of the Study
1.1 Introduction
Provision of higher education especially university education was a state

monopoly in Sri Lanka until the 1990s. Even today 72 percent of the annual
enrolment of undergraduates education takes place within the 14 conventional
universities 1 which are under the purview of the University Grants Commission
(UGC). This number is currently around 30,000 a year spreading over 110 different
degree programmes offered by 14 universities. As per UGC statistics, annual
enrolment into other Higher Educational Institutions (HEIs) outside the conventional
universities is around 12,000 2. The two critical problems encountered by the country’s
higher education sector are: (1) failure to create sufficient opportunities compared to
the demand for higher education despite the impressive achievements in the school
education both at primary and secondary levels in terms of enrolment and completion
ratios, and (2) quality variation of graduates produced by the system across disciplines
and among universities, exacerbating graduate unemployment. In an attempt to
address the critical challenges faced by the higher education sector of the country and
the changing needs of the employment market, the current policies and programmes
of the UGC encourage reforms that aim at improving the efficiency and effectiveness
of the state higher education system by way of producing able graduates who have not
only acquired knowledge in academic subjects but also enhanced other skills and
competencies required by the workplace. They also need to have learnt how to apply a
number of important practical life skills in order to be able to fully embrace and adjust
to new adult life after graduation. Needless to say for graduates to be career-ready
today, their learning at the university must go beyond mastery of core subjects and
focus on broadening their skills such as critical thinking, communication,
collaboration, creativity and problem-solving, technology and economic literacy.
The Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) in tertiary education which measures the ratio
of students enrolled in higher education from the corresponding age group is around
19% which is low compared to the standards of the lower middle-income counties
(LMICs). However, the basic human development level in Sri Lanka, especially in
indicators such as primary and secondary education and life expectancy, are high by
the standards of LMICs and comparable to upper-middle income countries (UMICs).
1
This includes all universities under the purview of the UGC except the Open University of Sri Lanka.
2
This includes numbers entering into 5 universities set up outside the Universities Act 1978, locally recognized degree
programmes and locally offered foreign degree programmes by different higher educational institutes in the country while
excluding external degrees and degrees offered by the Open University of Sri Lanka.
1
As per the UNESCO data, Sri Lanka's Net Enrolment Ratio (NER) in primary
education is over 99 percent, and that of secondary education is about 89 percent.
Though access to university education is limited in the country, it has a high
reputation among Sri Lankans as a secure path for employment. Almost all Sri
Lankan families have a great aspiration of providing university education for their
children. Thus, there is a high demand for higher education. However, this growing
demand cannot be adequately addressed by the present system. Hence, it has created a
lacuna which is being filled through higher education institutions which have been
established in the recent past.
The second problem that the country's higher education sector faces is that the
job search and employment experience of students graduating from the universities
and higher education institutions is highly variable. This variation has been observed
both across the degree programmes and over institutions. Finding a suitable job after
graduation is a key challenge for most of the university graduates in the country. The
degree certificate obtained after 3 or 4 years of hard work at university does not seem
to be sufficient to find suitable employment for graduates in many disciplines.
Therefore, graduate unemployment has become a hotly debated issue in Sri Lanka for
several decades. According to De Silva 1977 (as cited in Ariyawansa, 2008), "Even if
one of the main objectives of the university education is to improve the skills of
students to face the challenges in external society, they have to leave from the
university without having sufficient self-confidence and assurance for better
employment." Studies have been conducted by the Higher Education for the
Twentieth Century (HETC) project (2010-2015) under the guidance of the Ministry of
Higher Education in all state universities in Sri Lanka to assess the employment status
of the graduates and to explore the employment patterns based on the graduates'
general characteristics, educational background, field of education and other
variables. The results show that the employability of graduates varied depending on
their general characteristics as well as the study programme (Ramanayake et al.,
2013). Though the country has conducted surveys to trace the issue from time to
time, findings are fast made obsolete, and they are not comprehensive enough to
understand the nature of the problem that exists today.
As time and money spent on education is an investment when graduates are

unemployed, return on investment is not achieved both at the country level and the
family or individual level. Indeed, a potential mismatch between the skills possessed
by the graduates (supply) and that of demanded by employers is perceived as a
significant obstacle in finding a job for most of the graduates in many counties
including Sri Lanka. As a result, some graduates have to engage in underpaid jobs, or
they have to be unemployed. According to Devarajan 2017, universities in Asia must
align more closely with the needs of the labor market to ensure graduates have the
2
appropriate knowledge and skills demanded by the employers. Such conditions
related to concerning graduate employment create frustration, youth unrest, violence,
and other forms of anti-social behaviors among them as well as social, cultural,
economic and political issues in the country which makes the country's progress slow
or even act as a barrier to progress sometimes. Therefore, feasible efforts are required
of the government, universities, and organizations to address the graduate
unemployment issue.
1.2 Study Objectives
The primary objective of this tracer study is to assess the employment level of
graduates after two to three years of graduation and to evaluate the adequacy and
relevancy of the internal undergraduate degree programmes offered by the universities
under the University Grants Commission (UGC) especially concerning employment
prospects of graduates. Accordingly, the current survey provides a snapshot of the
path students take both before and after graduation, highlighting the hurdles
encountered by them in a quest to assist stakeholders in the decision-making process.
The specific objectives of the study are:
1. to examine the overall level and the patterns of graduate employment

mainly in state universities under the UGC,
2. to assess the rate and trends of employment patterns both across
universities and over study programmes,
3. to recognize the factors associated with the employment prospects of

graduates,
4. to uncover the assessment of graduates about the relevance of the

training provided by the university in relation to their employment
prospects,
5. to ascertain employer perception of university graduates in terms of their

knowledge, skills, and attitudes in relation to employer expectations and
to identify any perceived deficiencies in this regard.
1.3 Data and Methodology
To achieve the objectives mentioned in the previous section of this chapter,

the study was conducted in three phases, as listed below. All three stages used the
survey method as the primary tool of data collection.
3
Phase I: Graduates’ Employability Survey – State Sector
Phase II: Graduates’ Employability Survey – Non-State Sector
Phase III: Employer Survey
The Phase I of the study, the graduates’ employability survey of state sector
universities, is the main component of this study to achieve the first four specific
objectives mentioned in the previous section whereas Phase II of the study, the
graduates' employability surveys of non-state sector degree awarding institutions,
supplements Phase I of the study. Also, it provides a basis for comparison with the
findings of the state sector survey. The third survey (Employer Survey) was also
designed to supplement the results of the primary study. This phase of the study helps
to realize the fifth specific objective of the study, which is to ascertain employer
perceptions of university graduates in terms their knowledge, skills, and attitudes in
relation to employer expectations and to identify any perceived deficiencies in this
regard.
1.4 Study Design
Phase 1: Graduates’ Employability Survey – State Sector
The graduates’ employability survey of the state sector universities

(universities under the UGC) was conducted for all degree progammes except for
Medicine, Dental Surgery, Veterinary Medicine and Indigenous Medicine due to the
reason that these graduates are fully absorbed by the state sector for employment. A
potential sample of 5,000 graduates was selected from the 30,270 3 students who
graduated in the years 2014 and 2015 from the 14 conventional universities under the
purview of the UGC. The Open University of Sri Lanka which offers its courses of
studies in the distance mode was excluded from the survey due two main reasons:
first, most of the students of the Open University of Sri Lanka are employed prior to
graduation: second, the students enrolled in the Open University of Sri Lanka
represent a heterogeneous population in terms of age and entry requirements.
The selection of a potential sample of graduates covering both years 2014 and
2015 provides an opportunity to examine the experience of graduates in their job
search over a period of 3 to 2 years respectively to the point at the survey was
conducted. As a part of the sample selection process a database of all eligible
graduates was constructed with their names and contact details. This was undertaken
with the assistance of the respective universities. Though all universities were able to
provide addresses of graduates, only some universities were able to provide their
telephone numbers
3 Excluding Medical, Dental, Veterinary Medicine and Indigenous Medicine graduates
4
The technique of stratified random sampling was used to select the potential
sample of 5,000 graduates from the broader categories of study streams (mentioned in
Table 1) that could be considered as independent sub-populations. The sample of
5,000 graduates could be considered as a reasonable representation of the 30,270
graduates produced by the 14 state universities under consideration during the years
of 2014 and 2015 excluding Medicine, Dental Surgery, Veterinary Medicine and
Indigenous Medicine graduates.
A questionnaire was prepared in all three languages: Sinhala, Tamil and

English and posted to each participant as per their medium of instruction. Methodical
interviews were conducted of about 250 graduates whose telephone numbers were
available. Within the space of 3 months, a credible response rate was 25% was
achieved.
Health
Academic
Management
Architecture
Engineering
Agriculture
Education
Computer
Fine Arts
Sciences
Science
Science
Allied
Total
University
Law
Arts
Colombo 172 118 31 80 10 123 534

Peradeniya 214 62 16 79 135 16 33 126 681
Sri Jayewardenepura 206 360 18 172 757
Kelaniya 314 155 14 13 118 614
Moratuwa 248 96 37 381
Jaffna 76 45 11 12 10 10 38 48 250
Ruhuna 138 101 43 68 11 97 457
Eastern 116 61 10 10 18 215
South Eastern 98 36 20 28 182
Rajarata 72 96 27 17 37 249
Ssnaragamuwa 72 78 25 18 59 252
Wayamba 83 31 57 172
Uva Wellassa 31 65 27 23 146
Visual & Performing Arts 112 112
Total 1477 1225 31 107 292 451 96 158 105 897 160 5000
Table 1: Selected Sample by University & Academic Stream
Phase II: Graduates’ Employability Survey –Non State Sector
The survey of the graduates produced by the non-state sector Higher

Educational Institutions (HEIs) was limited to two institutions: Sri Lanka Institute of
Information Technology (SLIIT) and the Asia Pacific Institute of Information
5
Technology (APIIT) who provided the contact details of 610 graduates who graduated
in the year 2015. Of this population a sample of 251 graduates was selected using the
stratified random sampling technique considering their academic streams as sub
populations. This survey was conducted using the same questionnaire used in the
phase I of the survey for the state universities but only through telephone interviews
as the telephone contacts of the respondents were available from the source. A high
response rate of 94 percent was achieved in this phase of the survey.
Phase III: Employer Survey
A list of companies covering a spectrum of industries who provide internship

and career opportunities for the graduates of universities was prepared from the
information provided by the Career Guidance Units of the universities for the purpose
of the Phase III of the study. From this list, 79 companies were invited, out of which
47 companies participated in a structured discussion that was conducted in two
sessions. This group covers the major employers of graduates in the country and they
shared their experience and expectations about the graduates they had hired over the
years. Further, the information gathered from the discussions was supplemented
through a structured questionnaire 4 in order to ascertain their perceptions of graduates
in terms of knowledge, skills and attitudes in contrast to the expectations of the
employers in more concrete terms.
4
The questionnaire used for the employer survey is a modified version of the questionnaire used for the Study on Employers’
perception of graduate employability conducted by the Flash Eurobarometer 304 – The Gallup Organization.
6
Chapter 2
Sample Profile
2.1 Introduction
This section starts with the analysis of the sample profile. The sample of
graduates who participated in the survey from both the state and non-state sectors was
initially scrutinized in terms of gender composition and academic stream. From the
data, it is evident that the participation of female graduates from the state universities
has been significantly higher (67.8%) compared to that of male graduates (32.2%).
Further, it was found that academic streams available in non-state sector is limited a
few (IT, Management, Law and Engineering, etc.) in contrast to more than 14 main
academic streams including medicine, dental and veterinary medicine available in
state universities. The majority in the sample has been graduated with special/honors
degree (72.2%). As per the survey data, the medium of instruction in all Science
based degree programmes is English while Social Sciences and Humanities degree
programmes are mainly conducted in the local languages, Sinhala and Tamil. The
majority of the Business Management and Allied degree programmes are conducted
in English.
2.2 General Profile of the Sample of Graduates
Of the 5,000 graduates selected from the state sector, the potential sample,
only 1,265 (25%) responded to the survey. About 100 questionnaires were returned
without being delivered to the target due to numerous reasons. Figure 1 shows the
distribution of the response rate across nine main academic streams (as mentioned in
Chapter 1, graduates of Medicine, Dental Surgery, Veterinary Medicine and
Indigenous Medicine were excluded from the survey).
Education 38.4%
Arts 35.2%
Science 24.9%
Agriculture 24.0%
Allied Health Science 21.9%
Performing Arts 21.9%
Management 20.8%
Engineering 20.2%
Law 13.1%
Architecture 10.4%
Comp. Sc./IT 7.0%
0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40% 45%
Figure 1: Response rate by Academic Stream – State Universities
7
As evident in figure 1, higher response rates were recorded from graduates of
Education (38.4%) and Arts (35.2%) academic streams and the lowest are was
recorded from the graduates of Computer Science/ IT (7%) stream. It is interesting to
note that the response rates of graduates coming from disciplines where the
employment prospects are low such as Arts was high compared to that of more readily
employable disciplines such as Computer Science/IT and Architecture.
Figure 2 presents the response rates by university. According to this, the

highest response rate is recorded from Uva Wellassa University (34.8%) followed by
Kelaniya (32.9%), Colombo (32.2%) and Ruhuna (28%) respectively. Peradeniya,
Rajarata and Sri Jayewardenepura are around 25%. The rest of the Universities have
more than 15% response rates.
UVA 34.8%
KLN 32.9%
CMB 32.2%
RUH 28.0%
PDN 24.8%
RUSL 24.5%
SJP 24.5%
EUSL 22.4%
SEUSL 21.4%
MRT 19.7%
SUSL 19.0%
UJA 16.8%
UVPA 16.1%
WUSL 15.1%
0% 10% 20% 30% 40%
Figure 2: Response rate by University – State Universities
0.3%
4.8%
9.6%
32.2%
67.8%
85.3%
Sinhala Tamil Moor Other

Female Male
Figure 3: Gender and Ethnicity– State Universities
8
The sample of respondents was also classified by gender and ethnicity. Figure
3 shows the composition of responded graduates of state universities by gender and
ethnicity. Of the total 1,265 graduates who responded from 14 state universities,
percentage of females has been more than double (67.8%) to that of the males
(32.2%). And the percentage of Sinhalese graduates in the responded sample is more
than 85%.
In relation to the non-state sector

sample, the gender based composition is given
59.8% 40.2% in figure 4. Out of 251 non–state graduates in
the sample, 234 graduates responded to the
survey. Response rate of male graduates
(59.8%) was higher compared to female
graduates (40.2%)
Female Male
Figure 4: Gender –Non- State Institutions
State Universities Non- State Institutions
25.8% 44.4%
55.6%
2.1%
72.2%
Special / Honors General (4 years) General(3 years) Special / Honors

General (3 years)
Figure 5: Composition by Type of the Degree
According to figure 5, a higher percentage (72.2%) of state sector graduates in

the sample consists of four year special/honors degree holders. The lowest percentage,
2.1% was recorded by the 4 year general degree holders, since there are only a few
state universities which conduct general 4 year degrees. However, in the non- state
sector most of the graduates have followed 3 year general degrees (55.6%).
9
Science 100.0%
Engineering 100.0%
Comp. Sc./IT 100.0%
Architecture 100.0%
Agriculture 100.0%
Management 90.6% 8.7%0.8%

English
Law 35.7% 64.3%
Education 33.3% 58.3% 8.3% Sinhala

Arts 12.4% 73.7% 13.9%
Tamil
Performing Arts 2.9% 62.9% 34.3%
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

Figure 6: Academic Stream and Medium of Instruction-State Universities
Based on the responses of the graduates, it is found that all Science based
graduates (STEM) in the sample have followed their degree programmes in the
English medium. The dominant medium of instruction in the Management stream
(90.6%) as per the responses received is also English. On the other hand, the local
languages (Sinhala/Tamil) are the dominant medium of instruction in Law, Education,
Arts and Performing Arts streams.
10
Chapter 3
Analysis of the Employment Status of Graduates
3.1 Introduction
Today, the provision of higher education is not a state monopoly. Annually

about 20,000 graduate from state universities under the UGC while about 3,500
graduate from non-state higher educational institutions. For this study, as already
outlined, a potential sample of 5,000 graduates were selected from those who
graduated in the years 2014 and 2015 from state universities while a sample of 251
graduates who graduated in the year 2015 were selected from two non-state higher
educational institutions.
There is no significant difference in the overall employment status of the

graduates of state universities and that of non-state institutions. The overall
employment rate of the state university graduates is 65.5% whereas the employment
rate of the non-state graduates is 66%. In both sectors, the employment rate of males
is higher; 81% of the state university male graduates and 76% of non-state male
graduates were employed at the time of the survey. Regarding academic streams, a
100% employment rate was found among graduates of the Architecture, Computer
Science/IT and Education streams. Allied Health Sciences and Engineering graduates
showed the next highest employment rates. The lower employment rates were found
among the graduates of the Arts and Performing Arts disciplines. As the survey was
conducted in August/September of 2017, the state sector graduates who graduated in
the years 2014 and 2015 had about three years and two years respectively for their job
search while non-state sector graduates had around two years as the sample from the
non-state sector covers only 2015 graduates.
The analysis in this chapter is presented in five sections: (i) overall

employment status of graduates, (ii) other attributes relevant to graduate employment
(English language proficiency, computer literacy, importance of internship training
prior to employment and professional qualifications), (iii) classification of graduates’
employment, (iv) characteristics of unemployed graduates and (v) graduates’
perception of the quality of university education.
3.2 Overall Employment Status
The overall employment status was analyzed for both samples - state sector
and non-state sector. Among the state sector graduates, the employment rate was
65.5%. From the rest, a small percentage (2.4%) was engaged in voluntary work
11
while 32.2% were not employed. In the non-state sector, 66% was employed and
34% was not employed. It is important to mention that the sample of graduates from
non-state institutions is smaller compared to that of the state sector as only two non-
state institutions agreed to share their information. Further, it is important to note that
the sample of graduates of the non-state sector was restricted to a few disciplines:
Management, Engineering, IT, and Law.
State Universities Non-State Institutions
32.2%
33.8%
66.2%
2.4% 65.5%
Employed Employed
Engaged as a volunteer
Not employed Not employed
Figure 7: Employment Status of Graduates
3.2.1 Employment Status by Gender
Promoting productive employment opportunities with a decent income for men

and women equally is considered one of the priorities in today’s world. Therefore,
the overall employment status of graduates was analyzed in terms of gender.
Findings in this regard show a clear employer preference for men over women.
Whereas 80.8% of male graduates of the state sector are employed, only 58.2% of
their female counterparts are employed. The disparity between male and female
employment is more than 22%. A similar disparity could be observed among the non-
state sector graduates as well.
12
100% 100%
16.7% 24.3%
80% 39.5% 2.46% 80% 47.9%
60% 2.34% 60%
40% 80.8% 40% 75.7%

58.2% 52.1%
20% 20%
0% 0%
Female Male Female Male
Employed Engaged as a volunteer Not employed Employed Not employed
Figure 8: Employment Status by Gender
3.2.2 Employment Status by Type of the Degree
In the state sector, the highest percentage of graduates who are employed are
those who followed the 4 year general degrees (88%), followed by special/honors
degrees (68.9%). It should be noted that only a few Science Faculties offer general
four-year degrees, and the number of graduates in the sample is meager (26)
compared to total sample of 1,265. However, the employment rate is low among
three-year general degree holders (54.2%). The employment percentage of the
special/honors degree holders of non-state sector graduates is higher than that of the
general degree holders.
General (4 years) 88.0% 12.0%

Special /
78.6% 21.4%
Honors
Special / Honors 68.9% 1.4% 29.7%
General(3
56.5% 43.5%
years)
General (3 years) 54.2% 5.2% 40.6%
0% 50% 100%
0% 50% 100%
Employed Engaged as a volunteer Not employed Employed Not employed
Figure 9: Employment Status by Type of Degree
13
3.2.3 Employment Status by Academic Performance
Following the British tradition, Sri Lankan universities divide the overall
performance of graduates into four categories: First Class, Second Class Upper
Division, Second Class Lower Division and General Pass. Figure 10 presents the
employment status of state university graduates according to their level of
performance at university. It is interesting to note that there is no significant
difference in employment rates between graduates with general passes (71.4%) and
graduates with first classes (71.9%). However, the employment rate of graduates with
second class upper division is the lowest (59.1%) followed by second class lower
divisions (67.7%).
General Pass 71.4% 1.7% 26.9%
Second Lower 67.7% 2.8% 29.5%
Second Upper 59.1% 2.9% 38.0%
First Class 71.9% 28.1%
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
Employed Engaged as a volunteer Not employed
Figure 10: Employment Status by Level of Performance - State Universities
In relation to non-state sector graduates, more than 87% of first classes are
employed while among other classes the employment rate is around 60%. These
results are reported in figure 11.
General Pass 62.9% 37.1%
Second Lower 64.6% 35.4%
Second Upper 62% 38%
First Class 87.5% 12.5%
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
Employed Not employed
Figure 11: Employment Status by Level of Performance -Non-State Institutions
14
3.2.4 Employment Status by Medium of Instruction
The Language of instruction at University is an important factor in the job

search for graduates as most of the job openings of the private sector and some public
sector institutions require some level of fluency in the English language. Therefore, in
this study, the employment status of graduates was analyzed in terms of the language
that they received instruction in university. The primary results are reported in figure
12. As per the figure, it is evident that a higher percentage of graduates who followed
degrees in the medium of English (81.2%) are employed while employment rates
among graduates who followed their study programmes in Sinhala and Tamil are
46.5% and 27.6% respectively.
English 81.2% 1.0% 17.8%
Sinhala 46.9% 3.9% 49.2%
Tamil 27.6% 6.9% 65.5%
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
Figure 12: Employment Status by Medium of Instruction - State Universities
Since most of the graduates who followed their degrees in Sinhala or Tamil
medium belong to the Arts stream, the employment status of Arts stream graduates by
the medium of instruction was further analyzed. According to figure 13, it is clear that
although the overall employment rate of Arts stream graduates is at the low
percentage of 46%, the employment rate among English medium Arts graduates is at
the satisfactory level of 71.9%. However, the number of English medium graduates
in the sample is 57 which is quite small compared to the sample of Sinhala medium
Arts graduates.
English 71.9% 28.1%
Sinhala 44.4% 4.5% 51.2%
Tamil 29.2% 5.6% 65.3%
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
Employed Engaged as a voluteer Not Employed
Figure 13: Employment Status by Medium of Instruction - Arts Stream
15
3.2.5 Employment Status by Academic Stream
The employment status of graduates can vary by the academic stream that they
have followed at university due to various reasons such as types of employment
opportunities created by the economy and the nature of the education and training
received at university. In the current study, eleven academic streams were broadly
identified for this purpose. Of the eleven, six streams can be classified into STEM 5
disciplines and the remaining five streams can be classified into HEMS 6 disciplines.
The overall employment level of STEM graduates is higher compared to that of
HEMS graduates. Computer Science/IT and Architecture graduates had reached full
employment status at the time of the survey. Graduates produced by the remaining
STEM related streams - Allied Health Sciences, Engineering, Science and Agriculture
- had achieved the employment rates of 95.7%, 92.2%, 83.0% and 82.6%
respectively. Strangely, the response rate in Architecture and Computer Science/IT
fields was low compared to others.
Architecture 100.0%
Comp. Sc./IT 100.0%
Education 100.0%
Allied Health Science 95.7% 4.3%
Engineering 92.2% 1.1% 6.7%
Law 85.7% 14.3%
Science 83.0% 1.8% 15.2%
Agriculture 82.6% 1.4% 15.9%
Management 71.9% 0.4% 27.7%
Arts 45.6% 4.0% 50.4%
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
Figure 14: Employment Status by Academic Stream- State Universities
Among the HEMS disciplines, full employment status was achieved only by
the graduates of the Education stream as they had been fully absorbed into the
teaching profession by the Ministry of Education and Provincial Ministries of
Education. In HEMS disciplines, the next highest employment rate was observed in
the Law stream (85.7%) followed by the Management stream (71.9%). Graduates
produced by the Arts and Performing Arts streams had the lower employment rates of
45.6% and 37.1% respectively. Further, in the fields of Arts and Performing Arts, the
5 STEM=Science(including Medicine), Technology, Engineering and Mathematics

6 HEMS=Humanities, Education, Management and Social Sciences
16
rate of engagement in volunteer services is comparatively higher (around 5%)
compared to other fields.
Management 83.8% 16.2%
Engineering 73.1% 26.9%
IT 71.1% 28.9%
Law 22.7% 77.3%
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
Figure 15: Employment Status by Academic Stream - Non- State Institutions
Next, the employment status of graduates produced by the non-state sector

higher educational institutions was examined by discipline. As explained earlier, the
non-state sample represents only four academic streams: Management, Engineering,
IT and Law. Among these academic streams, the highest employment rate was
recorded in the Management stream (83.8%). The employment rate was significantly
low among Law graduates produced by these institutions (22.7%). The main reason
would be the time taken for those who have completed Law degrees at these
institutions to pass the exams conducted by the Law Collage to get into the legal
profession. Unlike state university Law graduates, they have to complete all levels of
examinations of the Law College to be qualified as practicing lawyers. Further, it is
important to note that, except for graduates of Management stream, the employment
rate of non-state sector graduates is low in all other streams compared to graduates
produced by the state universities in the respective streams.
3.2.6 Employment Status by Academic Stream and University
The employment status of its graduates is a good measure of performance of a

University. This information is vital for various stakeholders such as parents, students,
policy makers, regulators and the management of the University. Therefore, in this
section we present the employment status of graduates of 14 universities under the
UGC (except Open University of Sri Lanka) for 5 major academic streams.
However, the response rates in some disciplines across the universities were
not evenly distributed. This would have had an impact on the final result.
17
Arts Stream
Analysis of this section starts with the assessment of the employment status of
graduates produced by the faculties of Arts or similar faculties in the system. Ten
universities in the system offer the Arts stream. Figure 16 shows the results of the
analysis. As per the figure the highest employment rate of the Arts graduates (64.1%)
is recorded at the University of Colombo. Only three universities exceed the 50% rate
of employment out of the 10 universities that offer Arts degree programmes. They
are the University of Colombo (64.1%), the University of Kelaniya (51.3%) and the
Sabaragamuwa University of Sri Lanka (50%). The lowest rank was recorded by the
University of Jaffna (12.5%). Compared to the other universities, the Arts graduates
produced by the University of Jaffna have recorded the highest engagement as
volunteers (18.8%).
CMB 64.1% 3.8% 32.1%
KLN 51.3% 2.7% 46.0%
SUSL 50.0% 6.3% 43.8%
SJP 44.2% 6.7% 49.0%
RUSL 40.9% 4.5% 54.5%
RUH 37.9% 3.4% 58.6%
EUSL 36.4% 63.6%
PDN 35.5% 64.5%
SEUSL 27.6% 3.4% 69.0%
UJA 12.5% 18.8% 68.8%
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
Figure 16: Employment Status by Academic Stream - Arts
Management Stream
Twelve Universities in the system offer degrees in the Management stream.

Figure 17 shows the results of the analysis. In the Management stream, the highest
employment rate is recorded by the University of Colombo (92.6%) followed by
Kelaniya (87%), Sri Jayewardenepura (83.3%) and Sabaragamuwa (80%)
respectively. The lowest employment rate is recorded by the South Eastern University
of Sri Lanka (28.6%).
18
CMB 92.6% 7.4%
KLN 87.0% 13.0%
SJP 83.3% 16.7%
SUSL 80.0% 20.0%
WUSL 72.7% 27.3%
UWU 66.7% 33.3%
RUH 60.7% 39.3%
PDN 60.0% 40.0%
RUSL 52.2% 47.8%
EUSL 46.7% 6.7% 46.7%
UJA 44.4% 55.6%
SEUSL 28.6% 71.4%
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
Figure 17: Employment Status by Academic Stream - Management
Science Stream
In the University system, Science degrees are offered by 12 universities (all

except the universities of Moratuwa and Visual & Performing Arts). Figure 18
illustrates the employment status of the Science graduates. However, this graph
excludes the Jaffna, Eastern, South Eastern, Rajarata and Wayamba Universities due
to low number of responses received. Overall employment status of all the
universities is better in the Science stream compared to the Arts and Management
streams.
CMB 95.0% 5.0%
KLN 88.2% 2.9% 8.8%
UWU 86.4% 13.6%
SUSL 80.0% 6.7% 13.3%
SJP 79.5% 20.5%
RUH 72.7% 27.3%
PDN 62.2% 2.7% 35.1%
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
Figure 18: Employment Status by Academic Stream - Science
19
Engineering Stream
Employment rates of the Engineering graduates of the Peradeniya and

Moratuwa universities are identical (95%) while the graduate employment rate of the
University of Ruhuna is low (85.7%). Currently, Engineering degrees are offered by
six universities. However, this study covered only three universities: Moratuwa,
Peradeniya and Ruhuna as the first batch of students from the other three universities
are yet to graduate.
PDN 95.5% 4.5%
MRT 94.5% 5.6%
RUH 85.7% 14.3%
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
Figure 19: Employment Status by Academic Stream - Engineering
Agriculture Stream
Nine universities offer Agriculture degrees. However, the University of

Jaffna, the Eastern University of Sri Lanka and the South Eastern University of Sri
Lanka were excluded in the analysis due to low rate of responses received from
graduates of these universities. According to figure 20, graduates of the University of
Peradeniya have secured the highest percentage of employment in the Agriculture
stream (94.1%) followed by Ruhuna (91.7%). The employment rates of Agriculture
graduates produced by Wayamba, Sabaragamuwa and Rajarata are also high. (87.5%,
85.7%, and 80% respectively).
PDN 94.1% 5.9%
RUH 91.7% 8.3%
WUSL 87.5% 12.5%
SUSL 85.7% 14.3%
RUSL 80.0% 20.0%
UWU 69.2% 30.8%
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
Figure 20: Employment Status by Academic Stream - Agriculture
20
3.2.7 Timing of First Employment
The time spent on job hunting is an essential consideration of any tracer study
of graduates. Graduates may find their first employment in one of the following three
phases:
1. During the University career - before the final exam
2. After completing the final exam but before release the final results.
7
3. After releasing the official results (after graduation)
Therefore, all graduates who employed were asked to indicate the timing of
the first employment with reference to the above three broad time-frames. The
summarized results are given in figure 21 for both state universities and non-state
institutions. Interestingly, a clear difference can be noted in the timing of first
employment between state university graduates and the graduates of the non-state
institutions. In the case of state universities, more than half (56.8%) of the employed
graduates have received their first employment “after releasing the results” followed
by 26.9% who have received the first employment “after sitting the final exam”, and
only 16.4% found their first employment “during the University career ”. Regarding
non-state graduates, the distribution observed is almost equal among the three phases
of the timing of first employment.
After releasing the After releasing the

56.8% 36.8%
result result
After sitting the final 26.9% After sitting the final

32.2%
exam exam
During the university 16.4% During the university 30.9%
0% 20% 40% 60% 0% 20% 40% 60%
Figure 21: Timing of the First Employment
The analysis of the timing of employment performed under the three time-
frames was further expanded by dividing third time frame (the category of graduates
who found their first employment after releasing the final results) into five further
categories: first six months of graduation (0-6 months), next 6 months of graduation
7
The official graduation date of a university is not significant to a search for employment.
21
(7-12 months) etc. Figure 22 presents the findings. In the figure, each of the first two
bars represents the percentage of graduates who found their first job during the
University career (16.4%) and those who found the first job after sitting the final
examination but before releasing the results (26.9%) respectively. Altogether, 43.3%
were employed before releasing the final results, 24.4% were employed within six
months of receiving the results, and a 16.2% have found a job within the 7 to 12
months of receiving the results. However, there are about 5.6% who have spent more
than 2 years to find a job.
more than 2 years 5.6%
19 - 24 months 4.5%
13 - 18 months 6.0%
7 - 12 Months 16.2%
0 - 6 Months 24.4%
After sitting final exam 26.9%
During University 16.4%
0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30%
Figure 22: Timing of the First Employment: expanded after releasing results - State Universities
The timing of first employment was analyzed in relation to academic stream too,
and the results are given in figure 23. Accordingly, a higher percentage of graduates
of Computer Science/IT, Engineering, Architecture and Management have found their
first job faster than their counterparts in other streams. The majority of the graduates
in the streams of Education (100%), Performing Arts (92.3%), Agriculture (75.4%)
and Arts (70.5%) who were employed at the time of survey had found their jobs “after
releasing the final results”. It is noteworthy that all Education stream graduates were
employed within one year of graduation. A high percentage of the Performing Arts
graduates (23.1%) have taken more than two years to find a job after graduation.
Further, among Arts graduates, 12.1% waited for more than 2 years to find a job after
graduation. However, not only Arts /Performing Arts but also some Management,
Agriculture and Science graduates waited for more than 2 years to find a job even
though it is a small percentage. In the non-state sector, most of the graduates who
worked during their university career belong to the Information Technology stream
(52.4%). As in the state sector, more than 75% of IT graduates were employed before
the release of their final results.
22
Management 2.2%
28.7% 26.5% 18.8% 14.9% 4.4% 4.4%
Comp. Sc./IT 27.3% 54.5% 9.1% 9.1%
Architecture 20.0% 40.0% 20.0% 20.0%
Engineering 19.3% 43.4% 34.9% 2.4%
Law 16.7% 33.3% 16.7% 33.3%
Agriculture 14.0% 10.5% 45.6% 15.8% 10.5%1.8%1.8%
Science 13.7% 34.6% 26.4% 13.7% 5.5% 3.8% 2.2%
Arts 10.5% 19.0% 20.7% 19.4% 8.0% 9.7% 12.7%
Allied Health Science 8.7% 34.8% 26.1% 17.4% 8.7% 4.3%
Performing Arts 7.7% 15.4% 23.1% 23.1% 7.7% 23.1%
Education 8.3% 91.7%
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
During University After sitting final exam 0 - 6 Months 7 - 12 Months

13 - 18 Months 19 - 24 Months More than 2 years
Figure 23: Timing of First Employment: expanded after releasing results by Academic Stream –
State Universities
Management 50.8% 37.7% 11.5%
Law 44.4% 33.3% 22.2%
Engineering 31.6% 42.1% 26.3%
IT 23.8% 23.8% 52.4%
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

After releasing the result After sitting the final exam During the university
Figure 24: Timing of the Employment by Academic Stream – Non- State Institutions
23
3.3 Other Attributes Relevant to Graduates Employment
Further, four other attributes relevant in improving the employment status of

graduates: proficiency in English, level of computer literacy, availability of internship
training during the University, and possession of professional qualifications other than
the University degree were examined for their relevance to graduate employment. It is
sad to note that even today there is a small percentage (0.3%) of graduates who do not
possess any computer literacy. Further, it was revealed that around 38% of graduates
possessed at least one professional qualification in addition to the academic degree.
It is encouraging to note that at least 57% of the graduates had undergone internship
training during their undergraduate career.
3.3.1 Proficiency of English Language
English education dominated the Sri Lankan polity since early 20th century,
and thus is perceived as the language of the elite and as a means for accessing power
and privilege in society (Ranasinghe, 2012). Consequently the deficiency in English
language communication skills among present day undergraduates and graduates is
identified as a crucial factor that affects their prospects of securing employments,
particularly in the private sector.
3.3.1.1 Proficiency of English prior to the University Entrance
In the absence of a common measure to assess the English proficiency at the

University level, we used the English proficiency levels as reflected in both the GCE
(A/L) General English and the GCE (O/L) English results as measures the level of
English language proficiency of the sample of graduates for the purpose of this study.
There is a high likelihood that those who had performed well in the GCE (A/L)
General English paper and the GCE (O/L) English Language paper will improve their
English language skills faster compared to the rest in their late university and
employment careers. Figure 25 clearly shows that a high proportion (38.8%) of the
state university graduates have failed (F) general English in their GCE (A/L) while,
on the other hand, a significant percent of graduates of non-state institutions (41%)
have secured A grades for General English at the same examination. Accordingly, the
level of performance in General English at the GCE (A/L) is better among non-state
graduates compared to state university graduates.
24
State Universities
GCE(O/L) English GCE (A/L) General English
70% 70%
60% 60%
50% 50%
41.0%
38.8%
40% 40%
30% 25.5% 30% 26.5%
18.3% 17.9%
20% 12.3% 20%
8.8% 8.0%
10% 3.0% 10%
0% 0%
A B C S F A B C S F
Non- State Institutions
GCE(O/L) English GCE (A/L) General English

69.6%
70% 70%
60% 60%
50% 50%
40% 40% 33.5%
26.8%
30% 30% 20.6%
17.4% 20% 13.4%
20%
10.0% 5.7%
10% 10%
2.6% 0.4%
0% 0%
A B C S F A B C S F
Figure 25: Composition of the Sample in terms of Performance of English Language at the
GCE(O/L) and General English at the G.C.E(A/L)
F 48.6% 4.1% 47.3%

S 65.4% 1.8% 32.8%
C 82.2% 1.3% 16.4%
B 85.1% 14.9%
A 88.3% 0.9% 10.8%
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

Figure 26: Employment Rates by Performance of General English at the G.C.E. (A/L) - State
Universities
25
According to the figure 26, there is a relationship between the employment
rate and the level of performance in General English at the GCE (A/L). Better
performance in General English at the GCE (A/L) is associated with higher
employment rates. Accordingly, over 88% of graduates who had “A grades” for the
GCE (A/L) General English are employed. In contrast, the employment rate of the
graduates who failed General English at the GCE (A/L) is 48.6%. Among the
respondents, 491 (38.8%) of the graduates had failed the GCE (A/L) General English
paper. However, students alone cannot be blamed for the status quo, as English is not
an essential subject for gaining entry to the state Universities.
F 42.11% 10.5% 47.4%
S 34.84% 8.4% 56.8%
C 57.32% 1.6% 41.1%
B 63.48% 1.7% 34.8%
A 82.24% 0.8% 17.0%
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
Figure 27: Employment Rates by Performance of English Language at the G.C.E. (O/L) - State
Universities
A similar association has been observed between the performance of students

at the GCE (O/L) English language paper and the employment rates of the graduates.
Though the findings in this regard are not surprising, they are an eye-opener to the
academic administrators and education policy makers to pay their attention to
improve the standard of English both at school and tertiary levels.
F 100%
S 66.7% 33.3%
C 47.8% 52.2%
B 67.5% 32.5%
A 69.4% 30.6%
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
Figure 28: Employment Rates by Performance of English Language at the G.C.E. (O/L) –
Non - State Institutions
26
The association between employment status and performance at the English language
paper at the GCE (O/L) was analyzed in relation to non-state sector graduates as well.
However, there no significant association between these two factors was detected.
3.3.1.2 Use of English Language during the Undergraduate Career
To understand how the English language has been used by graduates during
their undergraduate career, data were collected under five dimensions as shown in
figure 29.
I sent text messages in English 18.7% 33.4% 35.7% 10.0% 2.4%
I Watched English Movies/TV Series 18.5% 31.2% 33.4% 13.3% 3.6%
I watched News in English 5.6% 16.1% 38.4% 28.6% 11.2%
I communicated with my peers in English 4.7% 13.1% 49.7% 23.5% 9.0%
I communicated with my friends in English 2.5% 12.1% 48.1% 26.6% 10.7%
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
Always Often Sometimes Rarley Never
Figure 29: Use of English Language during stay at the University - State Universities
These data explain the extent to which the use of the English language has
become a habit or part of the lifestyle of undergraduates. A considerable percentage
(52.1%) of graduates of state universities uses English as the medium of sending text
messages often/always. Similarly, around 50% of graduates watch English movies or
TV series often/always during their University period. However, it is impossible to
neglect the fact that the rate of responding graduates who watched the news in
English, communicated with peers in English, communicated with friends in English
in their university days is very low (below 20% in the under always/often categories).
On the other hand, among the graduates from non-state institutions, a more significant
percentage: around 75% watch English movies/TV series and use English as the
medium of sending text massages. The notable point in the case of non-state graduates
is that more than 50% of them communicate with peers and friends in English during
their undergraduate career. However, the number who watch the news in English is
relatively low (36%) even among the non-state sector graduates. When the data
reported under each of these dimensions the two categories of graduates is compared,
the use of English language seems to be a regular part of the lifestyle of non-state
graduates. This could be a reflection of the difference in the socio economic
backgrounds of the two sets of students and institutional practices.
27
I Watched English Movies/TV Series 41.8% 35.8% 19.4% 2.6% 0.4%
I sent text messages in English 34.2% 40.3% 23.4% 0.9% 1.3%
I communicated with my peers in English 29.7% 36.6% 30.6% 3.0%
I communicated with my friends in 1.7%

24.5% 27.0% 40.8% 6.0%
English
I watched News in English 15.5% 20.2% 38.6% 19.7% 6.0%
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
Always Often Sometimes Rarley Never
Figure 30: Use of English Language during stay at the University- Non -State Institutions
I Watched English Movies/TV Series I sent text messages in English
Never 57.8% 4.4% 37.8% Never 46.7% 53.3%
Rarely 55.1% 2.4% 42.5% Rarely 60.5% 0.8% 38.7%
Sometimes 57.2% 2.8% 40.0% Sometimes 63.6% 2.2% 34.2%
Often 71.6% 2.5%25.8% Often 67.1% 2.8% 30.1%
Always 79.7% 0.9%

19.4% Always 72.0% 3.0% 25.0%
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
Employed Engaged as a volunteer Not employed Employed Engaged as a volunteer Not employed
Figure 31: Employment Status and use of English Language
Finally, efforts were made to understand how the use of the English language
at University relates to the employment search after graduation. As figure 31 shows,
there is a clear relationship between the level of use of English language during the
university to subsequent employability. The employment rate is high among the
graduates who watched English movies (79.7%) as well as those who sent text
massages in English (72%) during their undergraduate days.
3.3.2 Computer Literacy
It is encouraging to note that the vast greater majority (84.0%) of the graduates
of state universities had access to computing both at University and at home. Almost
28
99% of graduates had the opportunity to use computers at University. This fact
emphasizes the availability of a healthy environment for undergraduates to improve
their computer literacy during their university career. This may be attributed to the
fact that every academic programme in state universities offers at least an introductory
course unit in computer literacy. Secondly, students are expected to complete a
relatively high number of assignments under the course unit system, and they are
provided access to computer laboratories and computer lounges to complete these
assignments. Access to computer labs/lounges is available for students both at the
University level and at the faculty level in almost all the state universities. The
situation of the non-state sector in this regard is better than the state universities as all
the graduates in this category had
0.9% access to computing during their
0.2%
undergraduate career both at home
14.9% and at the institution. One should not
forget the fact that students of non-
state universities are from families
which are of a higher socio-economic
84.0% level compared to that of the average
students of the state universities and
naturally they can afford to purchase
computers.
at Home at University Both Uni & Home None
Figure 32: Status of Access to Computing at the University and Home – State Universities
At Home At University
18.5%
41% 41%
81.5%
18%
Freely Limited Reasonable

With Internet Without Internet
Figure 33: Internet Access at the University and Home - State Universities
29
A large proportion of graduates (81.5%) have internet access at their homes.
Only 18% graduates said that they had limited internet access at the University while
the others (82%) said that they had unlimited or reasonable internet access at
University.
Further, the level of computer literacy of the graduates at the time of their
graduation was assessed by the four characteristics mentioned in figure 34. Out of the
respondents from the state sector only a negligible number of graduates (0.3%) had
never used a computer in their life. Further, it was revealed that most of the graduates
were comfortable browsing the web (84.6%), using social media (70.8%) and using e-
mail (70.2%) at the time of their graduation. These students may have improved
some of such skills in relation to computing through the use of smart phones and
similar devices. 3.2% of graduates did not respond to this question.
Were comfortable in browsing the web 84.6%
Used social media regularly 70.8%
Used E-mail Regularly 70.2%
Had not ever used a computer 0.3%
Non Respondents rate - 3.2%

Figure 34: Computer Literacy at the time of Graduation - State Universities
MS Office is an essential collection of desktop applications which includes

several software solutions/packages that help to improve work efficiency that is used
in the entire world. Today this is mainly commonly used for documentation,
presentation and data analysis purposes. The figure 35 depicts the participants’ ability
to work with the following MS Office programmes: Word, Excel, Access, Power
Point and Project at the point of graduation of the state university graduates. Most of
the respondents are comfortable with using MS Word (94.9%), Power Point (90.6%)
and Excel (88.5%) since these applications are commonly used in the academic and
office environment. Almost half of them are also familiar with MS Access which is a
database management package. MS Project is the least used programme among
undergraduates (28.5%).
30
Word 94.9%
Power Point 90.6%
Excel 88.5%
Access 51.9%
Project 28.5%
Figure 35: Ability to work with MS Office –State Universities
Further, the employment status was studied based on the participants’ ability
to use MS Office as given in the figure 36 which shows that there is no significant
difference between employment status and the ability to use the MS Office package.
This may be due to the fact that percentage of graduates who could not use the MS
Office package is relatively small and such graduates would have been attracted to
jobs that did not demand computer literacy.
100%
32.9% 35.0%
80%
60%
40%
67.1% 65.0%
20%
0%
Yes No
Employed Unemployed
Figure 36: Employment Status and Ability to work with MS Office –State Universities
3.3.3 Internship Training
Internship training probably provides the first opportunity for students to get
exposed to a work environment while they are reading for their university degrees.
It’s considered essential training that should be facilitated by universities today.
Internship training gives students a certain degree of confidence to enter suitable
employment after graduation.
31
A majority of the graduates (57%), revealed that the internship training was a
component of their degree programme whereas the balance 43% of them had followed
academic programmes that did not have internship training as part of their curriculum.
Those who revealed that internship trainnig was part of their curriculum were then
asked to indicate how the internship had been incorporated into their degree
progammes regarding credit requirements. The results are shown in the figure 38.
Accordingly, the internship training was compulsory, with credits awarded, for the
majority of them (71%). For 12% though the internship was compulsory, no credits
were allocated to it. For 10% the internship was an elective with credits while for the
balance 7%, the internship was an elective with no credits.
7%
10%
No
43%
12%
Yes
57%
71%
Compulsory with Credits

Compulsory without Credits
Elective with Credits
Elective without Credits
Figure 37: Availability of an "Internship Figure 38: Status of the Internship as a

Training" part of the Degree Programme
As per figures 39 and 40, out of the graduates who had an internship training
component in their degree programmes, only 78% of them have received the support
of the University to find the internship training, while 22% have not received such
support. However, majority (62%) of the respondents indicated that an internship
programme was useful for them to find an employment whereas 38% students have
stated that it was not important to find employment.
Not
Support
ed No
22% 38%
Support
ed Yes
78% 62%
Figure 39: Support provided by the Figure 40: Usefulness of the Internship to
University to find the Internship find an Employment
32
As internship training gives students a certain degree confidence before
graduation to enter suitable employment, the relationship between employment status
and the availability of internship training in the degree programmes was further
analysed.
100% According to figure 41, it is clear

42.9% 24.2% that a higher percentage (74.3%) of
80% graduates who had gone through an
1.5%
60%
internship training during their
3.5% university career was employed at
40% 74.3% the time of this survey while the
53.6%
employment rate among the
20%
graduates without an internship
0% training is quite low (53.6%).
No Yes
Not employed Engaged as a volunteer
Figure 41: Employment Status and availability of Internship - State Universities
3.3.4 Professional Qualifications
This study also examined the possession of professional qualifications by

graduates since it is generally considered an added advantage for employment.
However, it was uncovered that more than 60% of the graduates did not possess any
professional qualifications at the time of their first employment (Figure 42) while
approximately 38% of the graduates possessed at least one professional qualification
at the time of their first employment. Of the sample, around 12% had more than one
professional qualification.
None 62.4%
1 Professional Qualification 25.9%
2 Professional Qualification 9.6%
2 or More 2.1%
Figure 42: Professional Qualifications possessed by Graduates - State Universities
33
Professional qualifications possessed by the graduates at the time of their first
employment were further studied according to the academic stream, and the results
are presented in figure 43. It shows that the highest percentage of graduates who
possessed professional qualifications were from the field of Architecture, (80%)
followed by Management (76.5%), Law (64.5%) and IT (54.5%), while the others
were less than 50%.
Architecture 80.0%
Management 76.5%
Law 64.3%
Comp. Sc./IT 54.5%
Agriculture 42.0%
Education 41.7%
Science 31.4%
Engineering 24.2%
Arts 23.8%
Figure 43: Professional Qualifications possessed and Academic Stream - State Universities
It is clear from figure 44 that possessing a professional qualification is a

definite advantage when finding an employment for graduates. According to this
graph, around 80% of those who possess at least one professional qualification are
employed. The employment percentage of graduates without professional
qualifications is substantially low, at the level of 56.4%. On the other hand, having
more than one professional qualification does not seem to be an additional advantage
in finding an employment.
2 or More 76.9% 7.7% 15.4%
2 Professional
82.0% 0.8% 17.2%
Qualifications
1 Professional
80.8% 1.2% 18.0%
Qualification
None 56.4% 2.9% 40.7%
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

Figure 44: Professional Qualifications possessed and Employment status – State Universities
34
3.4 Classification of Graduates' Employment
In this section, graduates employment is classified in terms of the under-

mentioned considerations:
1. Type of Employment (Full Time/ Part Time)

2. Sector of Employment (Public, Private etc.)
3. Sector of Employment (Economic Classification)
4. Position held by the employed graduates
3.4.1 Type of Employment (Full Time/ Part Time)
Graduates who were employed at the time of survey were classified into two
categories: full time employed and part-time employed. As per the figures 45, from
the graduates employed in the state sector, 89.7% were engaged in full-time
employment while 10.3% were engaged in part-time employment (less than 40 hours
a week). When compared to the females (88.4%), a higher percent of males (91.8%)
are engaged in full time employment.
100%
10.3%
8.2%
95% 11.6%
90%
91.8%
85% 88.4%
89.7%
80%
Female Male
Full time
Full time Part time (less than 40 hours per week)
Part time (less than 40 hours per week)
Figure 45: Type of Employment (Full Time/ Part Time) – State Universities
The type of employment was further analyzed by academic streams and the
results are provided in figure 46. When analyzing by academic streams, it was found
that part-time employment is comparatively high in the fields of Performing Arts
(30.8%), Computer Science/IT (25%) and Education (15.6%) compared to other fields
of studies.
35
Arts 100.0%
Agriculture 93.0% 7.0%
Architecture 93.0% 7.0%
Science 92.3% 7.7%
Law 91.7% 8.3%
Education 84.4% 15.6%
Comp. Sc./IT 75.0% 25.0%
Performing Arts 69.2% 30.8%
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
Figure 46: Type of Employment (Full Time/ Part Time) by Academic Stream- State Universities
As compared to the state university graduates, most of the non-state sector

graduates were able to find full time employment. However, the highest percentage
engaged in full time jobs are from the field of Engineering (100%). On the other
hand, law has the highest percentage of graduates engaged in part time employments
(20%).
Engineering 100.0%
IT 93.8% 6.3%
Law 80.0% 20.0%
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

Figure 47: Type of Employment (Full Time/ Part Time) and Academic Stream – Non-State sector
3.4.2 Sector of Employment
The employment sectors were classified into seven categories as shown in the
figure 48, according to, 46.2% of which the employment opportunities for graduates
are created by the private sector. Teaching positions in the public sector have
created the second largest source of employment for graduates (21%). Altogether the
36
public sector has created only 44% of the employment opportunities for graduates.
Therefore, it is essential for universities to appreciate the fact that the private sector is
creating more jobs for graduates and to realize the importance of preparing their
graduates with the qualities expected by private sector employers. In contrast to the
graduates of the state university system, non-state sector graduates are
overwhelmingly employed by the private sector (89%).
Private sector 46.2%
Public sector, Teaching 21.0%
Public sector, other 17.2%
Semi government sector 8.0%
University sector 5.6%
Self employed 1.5%
Other 0.6%
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50%
Figure 48: Sector of Employment – State Universities
Private Sector 89.0%
Public Sector, Other 5.2%
Self Employed 4.5%
Semi Government Sector 0.6%
University Sector 0.6%
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
Figure 49: Sector of Employment – Non-State Institutions
37
Next, the same analysis was performed with reference to the gender of the
participants. The results are shown in the figure 50. Among the employed male
graduates, more than 60% work for the private sector while only 37% of the female
graduates are employed by the private sector. The clear preference for men over
women by the private sector may be due to two reasons: (a) women prefer public
sector jobs, and (b) private sector job openings such as field jobs are considered more
suitable for men than women.
70%
60.2%
60% Female Male
50%
40% 36.9%
30% 27.9%
18.5%
20%
15.3%
10.4% 8.8%
10% 6.7% 6.0%
4.9% 1.2% 0.6%
1.8% 0.6%
0%
Private sector Public sector, Public sector, Semi University staff Self employed Other
Teaching other government
sector
Figure 50: Sector of Employment by gender- State Universities
Next, the same analysis was performed separately for different academic
streams. The results are shown in figure 51. A higher percentage of Computer
Science/IT (72.7%), Engineering (68.7%), Law (66.7%), Management (64.3%) and
Architecture (60%) graduates have been attracted by the private sector. On the other
hand, all Education graduates (100%) were employed as public sector teachers.
Further, a higher percentage of graduates in the fields of Performing Arts (76.9%),
Agriculture (36.8%) and Arts (32.9%) were also employed as teachers in public
schools. In the case of non-state sector graduates, both males (95.9%) and females
(85.8%) are employed in the private sector, unlike the state sector university
graduates.
38
Comp. Sc./IT 72.7% 9.1% 18.2%
Engineering 68.7% 1.2% 13.3% 12.0% 2.4% 2.4%
Law 66.7% 25.0% 8.3%
Management 64.3% 5.5% 15.9% 9.9% 2.7% 1.6%
Architecture 60.0% 10.0% 20.0% 10.0%
Science 47.3% 21.7% 13.0% 4.9% 12.0% 0.5% 0.5%
Allied Health Science 34.8% 39.1% 4.3% 13.0% 8.7%
Arts 31.2% 32.9% 19.8% 9.3% 4.2% 2.1% 0.4%
Agriculture 24.6% 36.8% 26.3% 7.0% 5.3%
Performing Arts 7.7% 76.9% 7.7% 7.7%
Education 100.0%
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
Private sector Public sector, Teaching Public sector, other Semi government sector
University staff Self employed Other
Figure 51: Sector of Employment by Academic Stream- State Universities
3.4.3 Economic Sector of Employment
Since it is also important to understand the economic sectors that create

employment opportunities for graduates, we analyzed the percentage of graduates
attracted by different economic sectors in the economy. For this purpose, we
identified ten economic sectors as shown in figure 52. According to the figure, it is
clear that the single most important sector that attracts more university graduates for
employments is the Education sector (34.4%) followed by the Banking and Finance
Sector (13.6%). Other important sectors are Construction and Engineering (11.5%),
Professional, Scientific and IT (11.4%), Manufacturing (9.5%) and Public
Administration (7.5%). In terms of graduate employment, the Agriculture and
Plantation (3.6%), Healthcare (3.6%), and Hotels, Travel and Tourism (2.8%) sectors
play a less important role despite the economic significance of these sectors.
However, it is noteworthy that the Healthcare sector could be misrepresented here as
medical graduates were excluded from the sample.
39
34.4%
35%
30%
25%
20%
13.6%
15% 11.5% 11.4%
9.5%
10% 7.5%
3.6% 3.6% 2.8%
5% 1.9%
0%
Figure 52: Employed Graduates by Economic Sector – State Universities
40
Agriculture Graduates Arts Graduates
55.1%
40.4%
50.00% 60.00%
50.00%
29.8%
40.00%
40.00%
30.00%
12.3%
30.00%
20.00%
12.7%
5.3%
20.00%
3.5%
3.5%
3.5%
7.6%
6.8%
1.8%
10.00%
4.2%
3.8%
3.4%
3.0%
2.1%
1.3%
10.00%
0.00%
0.00%
Management Graduates Engineering Graduates

26.9%
30.00%
53.0%
60.00%
25.00% 50.00%
13.7%
12.6%
20.00% 40.00%
9.9%
9.9%
15.7%
15.00% 30.00%
8.2%
13.3%
6.6%
5.5%
10.00% 20.00%
6.0%
2.7%
2.7%
4.8%
3.6%
2.4%
1.1%
1.2%
5.00% 10.00%
0.00% 0.00%
Science Graduates
50.00%
39.3%
40.00%
30.00%
20.00% 14.2% 12.0%
9.3%
10.00% 6.6%
3.8% 3.3% 3.3% 2.7% 2.2% 2.2% 1.1%
0.00%
Figure 53: Employed Graduates by Economic Sector for major Academic Stream –State Universities
41
As it is equally important to know the economic sectors that the graduates
produced by each academic are attracted to, the same analysis was performed by
academic streams. The results are reported in figure 53. According to the figure,
Management graduates are less concentrated to a particular sector of employment
compared to the graduates of the other streams. Further, a higher percentage of Arts
(55.1%), Agriculture (40.4%) and Science (39.3%) graduates are attracted by the
Education sector, probably indicating that they move into teaching positions. It is
suprising to see that only 29.8% Agriculture graduates are attracted to Agricuture
related jobs. Engineering gradutes are mainly attracted by Construction and other
Enginerring (53.0%) related jobs, followed by Manufaturing (15.7%) and IT (13.3%)
related jobs. The most diverse pattern of employment was observed in relation to the
Management graduates. A high percentage of Management graduates (26.9%) are
attracted to the Banking and Finance sector jobs.
3.4.4 Position of Employment
The position or the level related to a job describes not only the type of
responsibilities of the person who holds the job but also the career path of the person.
When looking into the positions held by employed graduates in the state universities,
the highest percent is engaged in Junior Management positions (31.9%) and the next
highest percentage works as Teachers (26.5%). It is noticeable that about 12% were
still engaged in lower level clerical and allied grade jobs even after about 2 years of
graduation.
35% 31.9%
30% 26.5%
25%
20%
15.7%
15% 12.1%
10% 7.7%
5% 3.6%
2.5%
0%
Figure 54: The Position of Employed Graduates - State Universities
42
Allied Health 89.5% 10.5%
Law 25.0% 58.3% 16.7%
Engineering 53.1% 37.0% 1.2% 7.4%
Comp. Sc./IT 9.1% 9.1% 45.5% 27.3% 9.1%
Management 17.6% 6.8% 12.5% 40.3% 16.5% 3.4% 2.8%
Science 6.6% 30.7% 8.4% 28.3% 15.7% 4.8% 5.4%
Agriculture 9.1% 38.2% 7.3% 23.6% 20.0% 1.8%
Arts 20.3% 44.7% 6.5% 18.0% 6.9%

0.9% 2.8%
Performing Arts 16.7% 83.3%
Education 100.0%
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
Support staff (clerical/secretarial) Teacher Management trainee

Junior management Middle management Senior management
Lecturer
Figure 55: The Position of Employed Graduates by Academic Stream – State Universities
Further, the positions held by employed graduates were analyzed according to

the academic stream. The results are reported in figure 55. According to the figure
the highest percentage of lower level jobs such as support staff (Clerical/ Secretarial)
are occupied by Arts graduates (20.3%). Also, there is a reasonable percentage of
Performing Arts graduates employed in support staff positions (16.7%). The rest are
employed as Teachers. It is important to mention that all Education graduates (100%)
are employed as school teachers. Other significant point is that 25% of the Law
graduates are working as management trainees. However, a relatively high percent
(9.1%) of Computer Science/IT graduates are in senior management positions within
2 years of graduation.
3.4.5 Monthly Salary of Graduates
The employed graduates were further asked to furnish there salary levels in
relation to the seven ranges provided in figure 56. The highest percentage (29.8%) of
state-sector graduates drew a monthly gross salary in the range of Rs.35,000 –
Rs.44,999 at the time of survey. The median monthly gross salary of a state sector
graduate after two to three years of graduation is also in this range. The second largest
group (25.2%) falls in the range of Rs. 25,000 – Rs.34,999 monthly gross salary. The
43
percentage of graduates in each of the other higher salary ranges is less than 10%
except for the last range of Rs.75,000 or more. This group consists of 15.1% of the
graduates. The proportion of graduates who earn a gross salary of less than Rs.
25,000 per month is 9.2%. Among the non-state sector graduates, a higher percentage
(20%) earned a monthly gross salary in the range of Rs.45,000 – Rs.54,999.
29.8%
30%
25.2%
25%
20%
15.1%
15%
9.2% 9.6%
10%
6.4%
4.8%
5%
0%
Figure 56: Distribution of Employed Graduates in terms of Monthly Gross Salary - State
Universities
Further, the salary levels of graduates were analyzed with regard to gender.
The results are shown in the figure 57 for both state and non-state sector graduates.
Over 75% of state sector female graduates received less than Rs 45,000 as their
monthly gross salary whereas only 45% of their male counterparts received the same
amount. The disparity of salary between male and female graduates could be a
reflection of salary disparity among graduates from different academic streams, i.e.,
Arts graduates are paid relatively low salaries and they consist of more females. The
salary disparity between male and female is less among non-state graduates. Only
about 60% of female graduates in the non-state sector draw a monthly gross salary
below Rs. 45,000 while males in this category are less than 34%. On the other hand,
a more significant percent of male graduates (66.3%) draw a monthly gross salary of
Rs. 45,000 or more.
44
40%
40%
33.9%
35%
30.8% 35%
29.8%
30% 27.2%
30%
23.5%
25% 25% 21.3% 21.4%
20% 16.7% 20% 19.4%
14.9% 14.9% 14.3%
15% 11.8% 12.7%
15% 14.3% 12.2% 11.2%
10% 7.5% 8.0% 8.5%
6.5% 7.1% 10% 7.1% 6.4%
5.3% 5.3%
3.7% 4.3%
5% 5%
0% 0%
Female Female
Male Male
Figure 57: Distribution of Employed Graduates in terms of Monthly Gross Salary and Gender
100% 2.6% 3.5% 9.9%

5.2% 10.5% 14.1% 16.7%
90% 5.5% 21.7%
30.0%
7.0% 6.6% 6.0%
80% 26.1% 8.3%
46.2% 8.2%
70% 14.9% 13.0%
14.7% 67.5%
25.0% 72.7%
60%
30.0%
50% 100.0% 54.4%
31.5%
44.8% 23.1% 16.7% 47.8%
40% 33.7%
10.0%
30%
10.8%
16.7% 10.0%
20% 22.7%
18.2%
30.8% 21.1% 14.5%
20.7%
10% 19.6% 13.0% 20.0%
16.7% 3.6%
8.8% 9.1%
3.5% 2.7% 4.3% 1.2%
2.4%
0%
Less than 25,000 25,000 - 34,999 35,000 - 44,999 45,000 - 54,999

55,000 - 64,999 65,000 - 74, 999 Over 75,000
Figure 58: Distribution of Employed Graduates in terms of Monthly Gross Salary and Academic
Stream – State Universities
45
The monthly gross salary of graduates was further analyzed by academic stream
as given in the figure 58. According to the figure, the median monthly gross salary of
Engineering and IT graduates is over Rs. 75,000 which is the best among all streams.
About 70% of those graduates fall under this category. The next highest salaries are
paid for Architecture graduates followed by the Allied Health Sciences. More than
60% of Architecture graduates receive a monthly gross salary over Rs. 65,000
whereas 35% of the graduates of Allied Health Sciences are at this salary level.
Salaries of Law, Science and Management graduates are distributed within a wide
range of levels. While the monthly salaries of some graduates of each of these three
streams are as high as Rs. 75,000 (or above), some are paid less than Rs. 25,000 per
month. Percentages of graduates of these three streams: Law, Science and
Management getting a monthly gross salary of Rs. 45,000 or above are around 50%,
43% and 37% respectively. On the other hand, percentages of graduates of these three
streams getting a monthly gross salary of less than Rs. 35,000 are around 33%, 23%
and 32% respectively. Accordingly, salary dispersion is higher in relation to Law
graduates. The median salary of Agriculture graduates belongs to the scale of Rs.
35,000 to Rs. 44,999 and the majority of Agriculture graduates (54.4%) are in this
range. All graduates in the Education stream also belong to the range of Rs. 35,000 to
Rs. 44,999 as monthly gross salary. The lowest median monthly salary which is in the
range Rs. 25,000 to Rs. 34,999 is paid to Arts and Performing Arts graduates.
Percentages of graduates getting less than Rs. 35,000 as monthly gross salary in the
Arts and Performing Arts streams are around 64% and 54% respectively. According
to this study, graduates of these two streams belong to the lowest paid among the
entire sample.
3.5 Unemployed Graduates - State Universities
It is important to understand the issue of unemployed graduates in any

graduate tracer study as it is not an isolated issue faced by the graduates. It could be a
reflection of multi-faceted socio-economic problems including the larger problems
associated with the system of higher education in the country. As we described at the
beginning of this chapter, almost 40% of female and 18% of male graduates of the
state universities are still unemployed after 2 to 3 years of graduation. These ratios
related to the non-state sector graduates are 48% and 24% respectively. Issue of
graduate unemployment is a complex one and those who have contributed this debate
have highlighted, inter alia, three reasons for this situation:
1. Skills mismatch: mismatch between the skills possessed by the graduates

and the skills required by the employers from graduates.
2. Mismatch of expectations between graduates and the employers in terms of

employment status: relatively high expectations of graduates may create this
issue.
46
3. Failure of the economy to create sufficient number of employment
opportunities: this is directly related to the level of economic growth.
In this study, the problem is analyzed from the perspective of unemployed

graduates. To this end, we have summarized the answers provided by 407 (32%)
unemployed graduates in the sample to particular questions raised at the survey as to
what reasons, in their opinion, were the reasons for their unemployment.
3.5.1 General Profile of Unemployed Graduates
The vast majority (83%) of unemployed graduates are females. This is partly
a reflection of the high unemployment rate of graduates produced by Arts and
Performing Arts streams. We should not forget the fact that the majority of students
entering to these faculties are females. On the other hand, the highest annual student
enrolment in state universities is taking place in Arts faculties. As per the sample,
unemployment rate among the Performing Arts and Arts graduates is 57.1% and
50.4% respectively. The third largest unemployment rate is observed among the
Management graduates (27.7%). Unemployment rates related to the academic streams
of Agriculture, Science and Law are around 15%. A small rate of unemployment was
found with Engineering (6.7%) and Allied Health Science graduates (4.3%) while no
unemployed graduates were found in the Education, Computer Science and
Architecture streams.
Architecture 100.0%
Comp. Sc./IT 100.0%
Education 100.0%
1.11%
Law 85.7% 14.3%
Male Science 83.0% 1.79% 15.2%

17% Agriculture 82.6% 1.45% 15.9%
Femal Management 71.9% 0.40% 27.7%

e Arts 45.6% 4.04% 50.4%
83%
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

Employed Engaged as a volunteer Unemployed
Figure 59: Unemployed Graduates by Gender

Figure 60: Employment Status by Academic
Stream
47
3.5.2 Reasons for Graduate Unemployment: Unemployed Graduates’
Perspectives
The reasons for graduates’ unemployment are complex and multi-faceted. As

described in the chapter two, out of 5,000 graduates (potential sample), the number
who responded to the survey was 1,265 (sample). Out of those respondents, 407
(32.2%) graduates were unemployed at the time of this survey. Of the unemployed
graduates, 8.9% were unemployed because they were engaged in further studies, i.e.,
following postgraduate programmes, and 7.6% of unemployed were not interested in
an employment. Also, it should be noted that 10.8% of the unemployed graduates had
not mentioned any reasons for their unemployment. Once these three groups are taken
out, the number of unemployed graduates in the sample comes down to 296
graduates. This is only 23% of the sample. Reasons for their unemployment, as
described by the respondents themselves, are reported in figure 61. Accordingly,
majority (29.5%) believe that they are unemployed due to lack of work experience.
The next three crucial factors are the inability of finding a suitable job (28.2%), lack
of professional qualifications (25.5%) and lack of connections with employers
(23.6%). Interestingly, about 12.9% of unemployed graduates were waiting for a job
in the state sector.
Lack of Work Experience 22.8% 6.7%
Couldn't find a suitable job 20.5% 7.7%
Lack of professional qualifications 21.0% 4.5%
Lack of linkage with employers 19.6% 4.0%
Waiting for a government job 11.4% 1.5%

Female
Continuing further studies 5.4% 3.5%
Male
Unspecified 7.2% 0.7%
Not interested due to personal reasons. 5.4% 2.2%
Lack of communication skills 2.7% 0.5%
Preparing to start an own business. 1.7% 0.7%

0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30%
Figure 61: Possible reasons for Unemployment – Unemployed Graduates’ Perspective
48
3.6 Graduates’ Perceptions on Quality of Education received from
the University- State Universities
As a part of this survey, the perceptions of the state university graduates were
examined. This was to study the quality of education they received, and relevance of
the subject matter studied to the labour market. Also, the employed graduates’ views
on education and relevant skills in securing their employability were further
discussed. This section studies only the state university graduates’ perspectives.
3.6.1 Quality of Education
To start with, we examined their perceptions regarding eight different aspects

that would affects the quality of education including factors related to teaching
learning environment of the University. Graduates were asked to mark one of the five
qualitative scales (Excellent, Good, Average, Fair, Poor) against each factor (aspect).
Figure 62 is constructed based on the answers provided by them. As an average,
more than 50% of graduates felt that the quality of education received from the
University in relation to eight factors was “good” or “excellent” while around 5% felt
that the quality of education received was “poor”. According to the results, the
majority of the students (80.6%) felt that the library facilities of state universities were
either “excellent” (41.8%) or “good” (38.8%). According to the opinion of the
graduates, the second best aspect of university education is the quality of lecturers.
As per the figure, 66.7% of the sample feels that the quality of lecturers of the state
universities is either “excellent” (16.3%) or “good” (50.4%). Responses received in
relation to the other factors are not much different from each other perhaps due to the
average outcomes. Therefore, still, there can be differences of opinion among
graduates coming from different universities and academic streams. On average, the
areas that the improvements needed are student recreational facilities, quality of class
rooms and opportunities for consultation with the academic staff.
.
49
Student recreational facilities in university 14.4% 38.8% 29.2% 10.3%6.5%
Quality of buildings 18.5% 43.3% 25.1% 9.2%3.6%
Quality of labs & technical equipment 15.3% 43.8% 25.5% 9.2% 5.0%
Library facilities 41.8% 38.8% 12.3%5.5%

1.6%
Quality of class room 16.8% 40.4% 28.5% 9.5% 4.6%
Opportunities for consultation with lecturers 18.5% 40.5% 26.5% 10.1% 4.3%
Teaching quality of lecturers 16.3% 50.4% 23.0% 8.7%1.5%
Quality of teaching methods 11.1% 48.5% 27.4% 9.8%3.1%
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

Excellent Good Average Fair Poor
Figure 62: Graduates’ Perceptions on Quality of Education received from the University
3.6.2 Graduates’ Perception on Quality of Teaching
Though the findings in this regard varies across the different academic
programmes, more than 50% of graduates in almost all programmes felt that the
quality of teaching was good in the academic programmes that they had followed.
Teaching quality variation seems to range from “excellent” to “poor” in Agriculture,
Science, Arts, Engineering, Performing Arts, Law and Management programmes.
This may be a reflection of university-wise variation in this regard especially due to
the varied distribution of qualified staff among universities. It is interesting to note
that this variation is low in some disciplines such as Education and Computer
Science/IT as only a few universities offer these programmes. Though none of the
graduates in the fields of Architecture, Allied Health Science and Computer
Science/IT rated their programme as “excellent” viz-a-viz teaching quality, a majority
of them rated their programs as “good” in this regard. On the other hand, none of the
Architecture, Computer Science/IT, Allied Health Science, Law or Education
graduates rated the teaching quality of their academic programmes under the “poor”
category.
50
Agriculture 24.6% 37.7% 26.1% 8.7% 2.9%
Science 20.6% 48.9% 22.9% 6.3% 1.3%
Arts 17.1% 51.3% 21.2% 9.2% 1.2%
Engineering 15.4% 49.5% 27.5% 5.5% 2.2%
Performing Arts 14.3% 57.1% 17.1% 5.7% 5.7%
Law 14.3% 50.0% 21.4% 14.3%
Management 12.6% 50.4% 25.6% 9.8% 1.6%
Education 8.3% 58.3% 33.3%
Comp. Sc./IT 72.7% 18.2% 9.1%
Allied Health… 47.8% 26.1% 26.1%
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
Excellent Good Average Fair Poor
Non Respondents rate- 0.08%
Figure 63: Graduates’ Perception on Quality of Teaching by Academic Stream
3.6.3 Graduates’ Perception on Opportunities for Consultation with the

Teaching Faculty
Any good academic programme provides opportunities for its students to

consult with the teaching faculty. As learning habits varies across students, this
accessibility is considered an essential aspect of the teaching learning process.
Further, since most of the students had switched over to English medium instruction
for the first time at the University, the majority of the students may have needed some
consultation with their teaching faculty. Graduates who followed the Architecture
degree programme felt that they had the best opportunity for consultation with their
teaching faculty. According to figure 64, 90% of them felt that they had “excellent”
(40%) or “fair” (50%) opportunity in this regard. The majority of graduates in Law
(64.3%), Engineering (62.7%), Arts (61.6%), Performing Arts (60%), Science
(57.9%), Management (57.1%) and Agriculture (56.5%) also felt that they had an
“excellent” or “good” opportunity in this regard. Graduates from study programmes
in Education, Computer Science/IT and Allied Health Sciences did not, in their view,
have a reasonable opportunity to consult their teaching faculty.
51
Architecture 40.0% 50.0% 10.0%
Law 21.4% 42.9% 21.4% 14.3%
Arts 20.4% 41.2% 24.6% 8.7% 5.2%
Performing Arts 20.0% 40.0% 22.9% 11.4% 5.7%
Science 18.4% 39.5% 26.5% 11.7% 4.0%
Engineering 17.6% 45.1% 27.5% 7.7% 2.2%
Agriculture 17.4% 39.1% 26.1% 14.5% 2.9%
Management 17.3% 39.8% 29.1% 10.2% 3.5%
Education 8.3% 16.7% 41.7% 25.0% 8.3%
Comp. Sc./IT 54.5% 36.4% 9.1%
Allied Health Science 30.4% 39.1% 17.4% 13.0%
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
Excellent good average Fair Poor
Figure 64: Opportunities for Consultation with the Teaching Faculty by Academic Stream
3.6.4 Graduates’ Perception on Balance between the Theory and Practice

with regard to Study Programmse of the Universities
The objective of this question is to understand the graduates’ views on the

standing of the academic programmes that they had followed at the University
regarding the balance theory and practice: whether the degree programmes were
highly theoretical or balanced theory and practice effectively. As per figure 65, out of
the total, 61% of graduates (last three categories; sometimes, rarely and never) felt
that the study programmes that they followed at the University are not balanced
regarding theory and practice. Only about 39% of the graduates felt that their
programmes were balanced in this regard. This finding gives a strong message to
universities about the need for changing the orientation of their academic programmes
to suit current market requirements.
40% 37.9%
35%
30%
25.0%
25%
20% 15.6%
13.9%
15%
10% 7.5%
5%
0%
Always Often Sometimes Rarely Never
Figure 65: Graduates’ Perception on balance between Theory and Practice in relation
to Study Programme
52
3.6.5 Employed Graduates’ Views on the relevance of University
Education to Current Employment
It’s a global phenomenon that graduates are not strictly employed in sectors or
jobs that have direct relevance to their studies at university. It also needs to be
remembered that some degree programmes do not train their students for a particular
job or sector, such as Arts degrees. Conversely, if employment of graduates deviate
from the specific training they have undergone at the University, it could be
considered as a waste of resources and time, especially since some of the degree
progrmmes are expensive, i.e., Veterinary Science, Agriculture, etc. Therefore, the
employed graduates who were part of this study were asked to state the level of
agreement about the relevance of their university degree/specialization to the current
occupation on a five alternative rating scale. The results are reported in figure 66. A
large percentage of graduates (62.7%) stated that the current job is related to their
university education while 29.2% of graduates did not think so. The results are not as
discouraging as the views expressed about this issue in general society.
50%
40%
30.7% 32.0%
30%
18.4%
20%
10.8%
8.2%
10%
0%
Strongly Agree Agree Undecided Disagree Strongly Disagree
Figure 66: Relevance of University Education to Current Employment
Graduates who did not agree that their current employment was relevant to
the education received from the University were further analyzed by their academic
stream, and the results are given in figure 67. The highest percent (44.7%) of
employed Arts graduates replied that their present employment is not relevant to their
university education, followed by Agriculture (33.3%), Performing Arts (30.8%) and
Management (27.5%). Concerning the other disciplines, the ratio is below 25%. The
lowest percent in this regard is found among the Allied Health Science graduates
(4.3%). As we know, Arts degrees are not generally employment oriented. A
significant percentage of Agriculture graduates are employed in unrelated jobs
compared to their training at university. This could be considered a serious issue that
needs the immediate attention of the policy makers as the Agriculture degree is one of
the most expensive programmes.
53
Arts 44.7%
Agriculture 33.3%

Management 27.5%
Law 25.0%
Science 22.7%
Education 16.7%
Engineering 13.3%
Architecture 10.0%
Comp. Sc./IT 9.1%
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50%
Figure 67: Percentage of Graduates Employed in irrelevant jobs with their University
training according to the Academic Stream
3.6.6 Employed Graduates’ Views on the “Importance of soft skills in

securing a job”
The skills mismatch has been highlighted as one of the major causes for the
graduate unemployment problem by many studies on the subject. Such studies have
focused mainly on the technical skills, soft skills or socio-emotional skills of the
graduates. In this study, employed graduates’ views on the importance of four specific
soft skills (English language skills, communication skills, presentation skills,
leadership skills) in securing a job were examined. The respondents were asked to
answer this question based on their experience. The greater majority, about 84%, of
the employed graduates agreed that the soft skills they possessed were instrumental in
secure the current job while only 7% did not agree with this view. This finding gives
an important message to the university authorities to revisit the teaching-learning
content and process of their academic programmes with a view to producing an able
graduate who fits the market requirements.
54
60% 53.9%
50%
40%
29.6%
30%
20%
9.2%
10% 5.0%
2.2%
0%
Strongly Agree Agree Undecided Disagree Strongly Disagree
Figure 68: Importance of Soft Skills in Securing the Current Job: Employed Graduates’ Perspective
-State Universities
Out of those who agreed with the importance of soft skills, 52% highlighted
that English Language proficiency was the key factor for them to secure their current
job, followed by communication skills (20.3%) and presentation skills (17.8%). This
confirms the findings reported under the proficiency of English language: the high
correlation between the level of proficiency of English and the employability of
graduates.
English Language skills 52.1%
Communication skills 20.3%
Presentation skills 17.8%
Leadership skills 7.1%
Other 2.7%
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60%
Figure 69: The most Important Soft Skills Instrumental in Securing the Current Job : Employed
Graduates’ Perspective –State Universities
55
Chapter 4
Employers’ Perception on Graduates of state Universities
4.1 Introduction
This part of the study is novel in Sri Lankan context as none of the previous
tracer studies did not attempt to examine the employer perception on graduate
employability. Numerous studies have highlighted that graduate employability has
become an issue since there is a substantial mismatch between the skills acquired by
the graduates from university and the skills required by employers. On the other hand,
employers generally complain that graduates coming from university do not meet
their expectations in today's volatile environment and urge them to produce
employable graduates who can compete and contribute to the current requirements of
the industry. Therefore, as a part of this study, an employer survey was conducted
with the expectation of understanding the perceived gap between essential dimensions
of graduate attributes and that of the industry expectations. In particular, the qualities
sought in potential employees and the perceived benefits to organizations that result
from the employment of graduates were examined.
For this purpose, the study team has identified 79 companies gained the
reputation among university faculties as the significant internship providers training
opportunities for university undergraduates. Out of them, 47 companies responded
positively to the request made to participate in the employers' survey and structured
discussion was conducted by the research team with them in two sessions. As the
group of companies invited covered the major employers of graduates in the country,
they openly shared their experience and expectations about the graduates they have
hired and are willing to hire in the future. Further, to the discussions, a structured
questionnaire survey was conducted to ascertain employers’ perception about
graduates regarding their knowledge, skills, and attitudes in contrast to the
expectations of the employers in more concrete terms. The rest of the chapter section
discusses the findings of both the discussions and the questionnaire survey.
Out of 47 companies participated in the survey, 11 (23%) companies were

represented by the CEOs (Chief Executive Officers/Managing Directors/General
Managers) in the survey representing their companies. On behalf of the balance 36
(68%) companies, Head of Human Resource (Directors/Managers) participated in the
survey. The largest group of employers participated in the survey represented the
private sector (79%) corporates followed by semi-government sector (13%) and the
government sector (8%). Moreover, employers participated from both government
and semi-government sectors were represented by the organizations with commercial
56
interest. Concerning industrial sectors, the most significant number of Employers
participated from IT sector (28%) followed by manufacturing and sector (15%), bank,
finance, and insurance sector (15%). Each professional, scientific/technical, and
conglomerate or diversified business sectors had about 11% participation. All
companies participated in the survey had recruited graduates for their firms during the
last three years, and they were also looking forward to hiring graduates in next three
years.
4.2 Graduates Recruitments in terms of Study Streams
business/mgt/economic studies 74%
engineering 62%
ICT 60%
mathematics/statistics 34%
science 26%
agriculture 17%
HSS 11%
law 9%
allied health 4%
Figure 70: Field of Study of Graduates recruit
As most of the employers participated in this survey recruit graduates from a

variety of fields, the 8 most frequently mentioned fields were Business Management
and Economics (74%), Engineering (62%) and ICT (60%). Domination of Business
Management and Economics graduates in recruitments may be due to the types of the
employment opportunities created in the economy with the rapid expansion of service
sector and the applicability of training of management graduates to a wide range of
organizations. Next, highest frequency was observed for various branches of natural
science graduates (mathematics/statistics - 34% and science - 26% subjects). Only
about 11% of employers recruited Graduates of Humanities & Social Sciences. Allied
Health Sciences (4%), Law (9%), seems to have the least employment opportunities
in the corporate sector as per the views expressed by the employers. It is worth to
mention that employment requirements of the public sector (especially public sector
Ministries and Departments) are not represented in this survey. Further, this analysis
does not show the real demand for different categories of graduates in the economy.
8
employers were free to mention more than one field about graduate recruitments based on their
experience. Percentage given shows the frequency that each field had been mentioned by the
employers.
57
4.3 Skills and Competencies Valued by the Employer in Graduate
Recruitments
It is understandable that there are characteristics, skills and knowledge and

intellectual capability elements that are required to perform specific roles with
different employments. Besides, combinations of transferable skills/competencies are
also deemed necessary particularly in many employment contexts. With the purpose
of understanding their importance in graduate recruitments, in this study, employers
were presented with 11 categories of such skills/competencies as indicated in figure
71. Further, they were asked to rate the importance of having such attributes by the
graduates looking for employment opportunities with them. As per the figure 71, all
11 skills/competencies seem to be playing a vital role in graduates recruitments. Out
of them, over 70% of employers have rated skills related "communication,"
"teamwork" and "reading/writing” under the category of very important skills. Over
60% of employers have rated "ability to adapt to and act in new situations” and
“analytical and problem-solving skills" in the very important category. Further, over
50% of employers agreed that "effective use of IT”, “English language skills",
"decision-making skills" and "sector-specific skills" in the category of most important
skills. All these 11 skills/competencies listed have been identified as important
attributed in graduate recruitments by more than 90% of employers.
Moreover, some employers stated at the meeting had with them by the research
team that graduates should possess leadership skills, knowledge in changing business
environment and current affairs in addition to the skills listed in the figure 71. They
further highlighted that the importance of possessing these skills by the teaching
faculty of the University beyond their knowledge about subject matter.
58
communication skills 74% 23% 2%
team working skills 70% 28% 2%
good reading/writing skills 70% 23% 2%2%2%
ability to adapt to & act in new situations 66% 32% 2%
analytical & problem solving skills 64% 34% 2%
effective use of IT 57% 40% 2%
English language skills 57% 40% 2%
decision making skills 53% 40% 4%2%
sector specific skills 51% 38% 6% 2%2%
good with numbers 47% 51% 2%
planning & organisational skills 40% 51% 2% 6%
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
very important rather important rather unimportant not important not responded
Figure 71: Skills and competencies valued by employers in Graduate recruitments
4.4 Employer Satisfaction with the Skills and Competencies

Possessed by the Graduates
It is equally important to understand the employers' perception of the skills

possessed by graduates recruited. Therefore, employers were asked to rate their level
satisfaction with graduates recruited during the last three years on each of 11
skills/competencies presented. The results are reported in figure 72. According to it, a
large percentage of employers are satisfied with graduates recruited about three
specific skills they possessed; “good with numbers” (83%), "effective use of IT"
(74%), and "team working skills"(64%). Employers’ responses were mixed about
"sector-specific skills", "planning and organizational skills", "analytical and problem-
solving skills" and "reading and writing skills". However, only a relatively small
percentage of employers were happy about "communication skills" (28%), "English
language skills" (28%) and "decision-making skills" (40%) of graduates recruited.
59
good with numbers 21% 62% 11% 6%
effective use of IT 17% 57% 19% 6%
team working skills 17% 47% 23% 9% 4%
sector specific skills 13% 40% 36% 4% 6%
planning & organisational skills 6% 49% 36% 4%4%
analytical & problem solving skills 6% 45% 38% 4% 6%
good reading/writing skills 4% 40% 40% 11% 4%
decision making skills 2% 38% 43% 13% 4%
English language skills 2% 26% 55% 13% 4%
communication skills 28% 57% 11% 4%
very satisfied rather satisfied rather not satisfied not satisfied not responded
Figure 72: Satisfaction in terms of Skills & Competencies
4.5 Challenges faced by the Employers in Recruiting Graduates
Recruitment of graduates may be more complicated compared to the other

level of recruitments as their training and exposure would be varied from discipline to
discipline as well as from institution to institution that they come from and also due to
their socio-economic backgrounds. Therefore, many employers invest time and
money (or use employment agencies) to attract the best graduate talents. Thus, as a
part of employer survey of the study, we studied the challenges faced by the
employers in recruiting graduates. Employers’ responses in this regard are presented
in a summary form in figure 73. About 74% of the employers stated that finding
graduates with relevant “soft skills” particularly, English language, communication
and interpersonal skills, leadership and influencing skills is the greatest challenge they
faced. Next, 40% employers stated that it is difficult to find graduates with “right
attitudes” and 38% listed that “lack of skills in applying theory to practice” as one of
the major problems in graduate recruitments. Further, about 26% of employers stated
that the lack of “general knowledge” as another challenge that they face in graduate
recruitments. Moreover, “lack of commitment” (21%) and “lack of ethical
consideration” (17%) were also mentioned as challenges they faced with graduates
recruitments.
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Lack of soft skills 74%
Attitudes related drawbacks 40%
Lack of skills in applying theory to practice 38%
General knowledge 26%
Lack of commitment 21%
Work ethics 17%
Standardization of the degrees 9%
new graduates applying for mediocre 6%
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80%
Figure 73: Challenges faced by Employers in recruiting Graduates mediocre
4.5.1 Importance of Having Internship Training, Work Experience and

Professional Qualifications by New Graduate Recruits
importance of internship trainning 54 39 7 strongly agree
rather agree
importance of having professional
22 53 22 2
Qualifications
rather disagree
work experience is a crucial asset 37 28 26 9 strongly

disagree
Figure 74: Importance of internship training, experience and professional qualifications by new
graduates-Employers’ perspective
Graduates generally claim that they failed in the job search because employers
disdain them due to their lack of experience. Therefore, universities today tend to
offer internship (one or several) as an integral part of the degree programme.
However, in the academia, there is no complete agreement in this regard. In contrast,
some degree programmes are not employment oriented due to the nature of the
subject matter being taught. Given these circumstances, we examined the views of the
employers in this regard. Among the employers participating in the survey, 54%
strongly agreed while 39% rather agreed with the statement that importance of
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internship training in graduate recruitments. This shows 93% of employers in total
agree. The proportion of employers disagreed with this statement is only a mere 7%.
Though it is unrealistic to expect work experience form fresh graduates, it is

generally argued that having work experience is beneficial in job search and also for
better employment. In this study too, employers have highlighted the importance of
recruits having work experience. For the statement "work experience is a crucial asset
for recruits" given in this regard has been rated as "strongly agreed" by 37% of
employers and 28% of employers rated it under the category of "rather agreed"
making total agreed proportion for the statement 65%. Employers seem to place rather
high value on the professional qualifications too. In the sample of employers, 22%
strongly agreed, and 53% of them rather agreed for the 22% employers strongly
agreed while 53% of them rather agreed for the statement that suggested the
importance of having professional qualifications before joining the industry. This
indicates that 77% of employers in total are in agreement. However, 24% disagreed
with this statement.
4.5.2 Factors Influencing the Employability of Graduates – Employers'

Perspective
Industry inputs are vital when designing and realigning study programmes offered by
Universities. In any part of the world, employers would prefer if fresh graduates
arrived better prepared when they come knocking on the job-market door. Industry
inputs would help to reduce the skill gap and the perception gap in this regard among
different stakeholders (employers, educators, and students). Therefore, the survey
team was interested in gathering the employers’ perspective as to what factors would
influence or rather improve the employability of graduates.
They were requested to list out the actions to be taken by universities to improve the
employability of graduates. A large percentage (43%) of employers’ suggested the
need for introducing extra modules to improve the soft skills; such as communication,
English language, interpersonal and attitudinal development, etc. of graduates. They
have also highlighted the importance of empowering student-centered learning
environment to make a Graduate with a well-rounded personality. A sizable group of
employers (36%) stated the need of students getting exposed to the working
environment through compulsory industrial training/internship training for them to
apply/ understand what they learn in the classroom. According to them, maintaining a
good working relationship between corporate/private sector is very important in this
regard. About one-fourth of them (26%) highlighted the importance of having a
continuous dialog with the industry as the business world is rapidly changing.
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According to them, it allows university system to understand the requirement of the
industry and the market trends.
Among the other thing they have underscored, creating more practical and
application-oriented learning culture, obtaining professional qualifications, having
experts from the private sector in the lecturer panel are worth mentioning. Some have
highlighted the need of restructuring the university curriculums to align them more to
the industry needs and the world of work. Some employers also highlighted the
importance of introducing more case studies into the curriculum. Some suggested
value of allowing students get involved in diverse areas of interest and exposed to a
variety of knowledge for them to find their passion and follow their goals. Even some
participants highlighted the significance of academics getting exposed to the practical
situation through industry collaborations.
extra modules to improve soft skills, communication &

43%
attitude
more exposure toward the working environment-

30%
compulsory internship
continuous dialogue with industry in development of

26%
curriculum and degree programmse
lecturers to work in the private sector 19%
create more practicle & application oriented learning

11%
structure
professional qualification 2%
Ensure English & presentation skils of Lectures 2%
0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40% 45%
Figure 75: Employers’ suggestion on improving the employability of graduates
Views expressed by the industry experts may not be equally applicable to all
the degree programmes. It would be somewhat difficult to incorporate these
suggestions to non-professional degree programmes, i.e., degree programmes in
Humanities and Social Sciences. For some degree programmes especially in the field
of Humanities and Social Sciences, some of these suggestions would be remote from
their curriculum. However, socio-emotional skills and transferable skills may be
equally important and applicable to all degree programme irrespective of the subject
stream.
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Chapter 5
Findings and Recommendations
5.1 Introduction
This study was undertaken with the aim of understanding the destination of Sri
Lankan State-University graduates after completing their studies. The study has provided a
new learning experience for the UGC as it has been the first one of its kind conducted directly
by the UGC covering all conventional universities under it. The study team believes that the
findings of the study will be useful to stakeholders in their decision-making processes
regarding the responsiveness of our university education, on the side of the supply, to the
condition of the employment market, on the side of demand. The findings of the study are
based mainly on the data collected through a questionnaire survey from a representative
sample of state university graduates who completed their studies two to three years ago
(graduated in the years 2014 and 2015). For comparative purposes the survey was extended
to a small sample of graduates of non-state sector institutions too. The study was
supplemented with an employer survey with the purpose of understanding any perceived
skills mismatch between the skills possessed by the graduates and the expectations of
employers. The main findings of the study are summarized in the rest of this chapter under
subheadings.
5.2 Overall Employment Status of Fresh Graduates
As per the study, the overall employment status of fresh graduates is not very
satisfactory in Sri Lanka. Out of 1,265 graduates traced from state universities after two to
three years of graduation, only 65.5% was employed, 32.2% were unemployed while 2.3%
were engaged as volunteers at the time of the survey. The statistics related to the non-state
sector sample in this regard are not very different from those of the state sector universities.
Out of 238 graduates drawn from the non-state sector, the employed rate was 66.2% while the
remaining 33.8% were unemployed. However, the statistics presented here do not adequately
characterize the graduate unemployment problem in the country as the external graduates
produced by the system are not represented in the sample. If they were traced in the study, the
results would have been more severe than what is reported here.
In Sri Lankan employment market, male graduates can secure employment more
often than women. As per the study, when the employment rate of male graduates in the state
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university sample was 81%, the same rate that of the female graduates was only 58%. A
similar disparity was observed among non-state graduates too. One has to understand this
disparity in the light of the increasing number of female enrollments in Sri Lankan
Universities.
Among graduates, those who possess degrees of four-year duration (special or honors
degrees) are more employable, compared to those who possess three-year degrees (general
degrees). Despite the argument that academic grades are rewarded in the labour market
because employers regard them as an expression of valuable skills or an indicator of other
sought-after attributes, the Sri Lanka labour market for graduates seems to be less interested
in academic performance or the grades of the graduates. In this study, we did not find a
significant relationship between rates of employment and performance (grades) of graduates
at the university expressed in terms of classes (first class, second class upper division etc.).
It is vital for universities and the other stakeholders to know the destination of
graduates once they complete their studies at university. According to the responses received
from employed graduates, 46.2% of them were employed in the private sector while only 44%
were engaged in public sector employment. Mainly, graduates in the fields of Computer
Science/IT, Engineering, Law, Management and Architecture are more likely to work in the
private sector. As these statistics represent the data gathered in 2017 based on graduations in
the year 2014 and 2015, they represent a natural pattern of employment of graduates in the
country as the government did not have any significant rescue programmes to absorb
unemployed graduates as in the past since 2015 until this survey. However, it is essential to
recognize that a sustainable solution for the graduate unemployment problem, in the long run,
lies on the level of economic development that takes place in the country which determines
the capacity of the economy to absorb the unemployed youth on the one hand and the ability
of the universities to produce market ready able graduates which influences the percentage of
graduates absorbed into the workforce, on the other. The economic sector which tends to
absorb a higher percentage of graduates is the education sector (34.4%). A higher percentage
of employed Arts (55.1%), Agriculture (40.4%) and Science (39.3%) graduates were
employed in the education sector, probably as teachers. It is surprising to see that only 29.8%
of Agriculture graduates were attracted to agriculture-related jobs. Management graduates
were attracted by many sectors in the economy. A higher percentage of them (26.9%) were
employed in the Banking and Finance sector. A large percentage (82.0%) of Engineering
graduates were emplolyed in enginering fields such as Construction, Manufacturing, and IT.
65
It was observed that from the employed Arts and Performing Arts graduates, a higher
percentage (about 20%) was underemployed.
The expansion of higher education in the country has, in some respects, created as
many challenges as it has resolved. We find a considerable discrepancy between the output of
graduates and the absorptive capacity of the labour market, leading, in turn, to unemployment
and under-employment in relation to certain disciplines. The question being raised in this
regard is whether the content and performance of systems of higher education can meet the
changing needs of society, including the new and changing methods of production in the
labour market. According to the findings, the STEM graduates are more employable
compared to the HEMS graduates. Among the STEM disciplines, graduates from the fields of
Architecture, Computer Science/IT, Engineering and Allied Health Sciences had reached the
full or almost full employment level at the time of the survey. Among the HEMS disciplines,
only Education graduates had reached the full employment level. The other two disciplines
within HEMS that had achieved reasonably high employment rates were Law and
Management. These graduates had reached employment rates of 86% and 72% respectively.
Among the HEMS disciplines, Arts and Performance Arts graduates in the sample reported
the lowest employment rates of 46% and 37% respectively.
The disparity of employment rates among universities was high within HEMS
disciplines probably reflecting the quality variation of academic programmes offered by
different universities. The variation between the two universities that recorded the highest
(64%) and the lowest (12.5%) employment rates in the Arts discipline was as high as 51.5%.
Out of the 10 Universities which offered Arts degree programmes, only graduates produced
by three universities had exceeded the 50% employment rate. Within HEMS disciplines, the
employment status of Management graduates is much higher than to Arts and Performing
Arts graduates. The continuous expansion of the service sector of the economy could be
considered as the main reason for this. A high variation of employment levels of graduates
produced by the different universities was observed in this study. When the highest recorded
employment rate by a university in this discipline was as high as 92%, the lowest in that
regard was as low as 28%. Within STEM disciplines, relatively higher disparities of
employment rates of graduates of different Universities were observed among Science and
Agriculture graduates.
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5. 3 Graduates’ Attributes Rewarded in the Employment Market
The country’s employment market for graduates is annually supplied a large number
of graduates of varying quality competing for various jobs openings. Though the majority of
such jobs are not discipline-specific, employers generally specify various attributes expected
from prospective applicants. As a result, the employment market has become competitive and
demanding. Further, the trends in the graduate employment market are shaped by changing
forces such as the expansion of higher education provision within the country, the increasing
number of graduates entering the employment market with foreign qualifications;
unprecedented change in technology; globalization, and the expansion of the global economy.
These change agents influence the hiring needs of employers. Therefore, the decision to hire a
graduate by an employer is based on the graduate’s qualities and abilities in addition to the
discipline-specific knowledge and skills. Brown and Hesketh (as cited in Tomlinson 2008)
note that employers relate the employability discourse to behavioral competence and a wider
range of personal, performative and organizational abilities. In this context, it is important for
both management of higher education institutions and students to be aware of the changing
nature of the employment patterns and the required employability attributes expected by the
employers. Mapping industry needs and redesigning the study programmes accordingly
would help universities to equip their graduates with the employability attributes needed by
the employers.
In this study, we looked at the issue from the perspectives of employers and
graduates. Among the graduate attributes, the most valued attribute in the Sri Lankan
employment market is, without dispute, proficiency in the English language. The majority of
the employed graduates, especially in the private sector, believe that their skills in the English
language were central for them securing the current employment. The employers who
participated in the survey too stressed the role of English language proficiency of graduates
in securing the employment opportunities available in today’s business environment. In the
absence of an independent common tool to measure the level of English literacy of graduates,
we examined the relationship between the graduates’ performance at the English Language
paper of the G.C.E. (A/L) and G.C.E. (O/L) examinations and the level of employability. We
found that 88% of graduates who secured an “A grade” for G.C.E. (A/L) General English
were employed irrespective of their subject discipline. However, from among those who
failed the subject, only 49% had secured employment after two to three years of graduation. A
somewhat similar relationship was observed with the performance of G.C.E. (O/L) English
Language too. The sad truth is that from the university graduates traced, more than 38% had
failed General English at the G.C.E. (A/L) and only about 9% could secure “A grades”.
67
Computer literacy of graduates is generally believed to be an essential attribute that
helps them to find employment. We observed that a high percentage of graduates who
responded to the current survey had been exposed to computers both at home and at the
university. Further, the employer survey revealed that a large percentage of employers were
happy about the level of computer literacy of the contemporary graduates. However, this is
different from the fact that the market needs more IT graduates with advanced knowledge in
computing.
The possession of both additional professional qualifications and work/industry

experience gained through an internship are rewarded in the employment market. Having an
additional professional qualification is an added advantage for job seeking graduates.
Notably, a higher percentage of employed Management graduates possessed one or more
professional qualifications. About 25% of unemployed graduates believe that the lack of
professional qualifications is as one of the reasons for their unemployment. Experience
acquired through internship training is also rewarded in the employment market. The survey
results indicated that a high percentage of graduates who had undergone internships as a part
of their degree programmes were employed. Sadly, internship training is not available for
more than 57% of the graduates of the state universities. Especially students of Faculties of
Arts and Performing Arts get hardly any opportunities to follow internships programmes
during their university career.
Today employers are interested in recruiting people with the right socio-emotional
skills. Socio-emotional (SE) skills include the knowledge, attitudes, and skills necessary for
youth to recognize and control their emotions and behaviors. These skills help to establish
and maintain positive relationships, make responsible decisions, face challenging situations,
and set and achieve positive goals. Sometimes these skills are labeled as 21st-century
skills, soft skills, non-cognitive skills, or as character attributes. Socio-emotional skills are
linked to academic, career, and life success. Understandably, almost all the job offers open
to graduates expect the set of socio-emotional skills that are important to perform the job
effectively. As per the current survey around 85% of the employed graduates believe that the
soft skills they possessed were instrumental in securing the current employment. Among such
skills highlighted by the employers in this study are “communication skills” (74%),
“teamwork skills” (70%), “good reading/writing skills”(70%), “ability to adapt to and act in
new situations”(66%) and “analytical and problem solving skills”(64%). Further, in the
employer survey, the employers were asked to express whether they are satisfied with the
68
recently recruited graduates in relation to a set of pre-identified skills. The percentage of
employers satisfied with graduates’ “communication skills” (28%), “English language skills"
(28%), "decision-making skills" (40%) and "reading/writing skills” (44%) was relatively low.
Further, the employers were appreciative of graduates’ theoretical knowledge, numerical
skills, and IT skills. However, they were not pleased with the graduates’ skills in creative
problem-solving capacity, initiative and enterprise ability, critical and analytical thinking, and
ability to apply discipline-related knowledge and concepts to practical situations.
5.4. Reducing the Gap between Industry and Academia
Joining the workforce as an effective worker in society is probably the first step for a
graduate to demonstrate his/her ability, and the transition from student’s to work life after
graduation is an important part of the cycle essential for a sustainable society. Contrary to
this, more than one-third of the graduates are unemployed in Sri Lanka even after two to three
years of graduation. Graduate unemployment in a country is a grave concern, and it can be
attributed to multiple factors like slow economic and industrial growth, lack of investments,
skills mismatch, etc. The paradox in this regard is when academia is complaining about slow
job generation in the economy and the industry is complaining about the non-availability of
quality human resources. The employers who participated in the current survey too
highlighted the mismatch between the competencies of the newly recruited graduates and the
competency requirements of the labour market for graduates. According to them, the industry
has tried to bridge this gap with additional training. However, they stated that it is expensive
and also kills productivity. Invariably this means that university graduates are not adequately
prepared for work with respect to the skills demand of the labor market. While the skills and
competencies required from graduates may vary depending on the field of study and the
intended employment, academia should be mindful that the employers require a set of generic
skills irrespective of the field of study and the intended field of employment. Among the
most listed such skills by numerous authors are literacy and numeracy, time management
and organization, oral and written communication, teamwork, capacity for creative problem-
solving, initiative and enterprise, critical and analytical thinking, ability to apply discipline-
related knowledge and concepts, information gathering, evaluation and synthesis, emotional
intelligence and interpersonal skills, and adaptability. As per the views expressed by the
employers in the survey, most of the Sri Lankan graduates do not possess these skills
adequately. In certain instances, they are not updated with the emerging trends, issues and
challenges in relation to their respective fields as well.
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It is a challenge for universities to produced readily employable graduates with the
right skills. Universities alone might not be able to address the issue. System-wide
interventions are required to address the macro-level mismatches between the types of
graduates being produced and the types of graduates required by the economy, i.e., what
percentage of STEM graduates and HEMS are to be produced or how many IT graduates are
to be produced. Together with macro-level projections, new investments are required to
achieve such broader higher educational objectives. At the institution level, university
authorities have to take the challenge of producing able graduates with the right skills
required by the employers. Irrespective of the discipline, our universities will have to think of
revisiting their curricula together with methods of teaching, learning and assessments for
students to be equipped with knowledge, skills, and values so that learners could achieve their
full intellectual, personal, emotional and social potential. Teaching-learning progression and
assessment methods at the university should encourage and facilitate learners to acquire and
practice skills that will assist them to become effective in responding to future challenges in
their lives and to play active and responsible roles in society after graduation. Such reforms
are particularly urgent for disciplines coming under Humanities and Social Sciences
including Visual and Performing Arts based disciplines. Conventional lecture-based delivery
together with assessment via exams and essays will not necessarily nurture the required skills
among students. Therefore, it is important to bring some novelty and diversity to the teaching-
learning process so that the required skills can be cultivated among students. For example,
principles of experiential learning can be incorporated to delivery and assessment methods of
university courses so that the students can learn through real-world experience or a real world
like simulated environment with numerous engagements. Problem-based learning is also
highly recommended in this regard as it develops learner autonomy and other key
employability skills alongside the application of content knowledge (Martin, West,
and Bill, 2008).
It is essential for universities to map their academic programmes regularly with the
requirements of the potential employment opportunities available for their graduates. Usually,
employers have very specific job related expectations, while universities expect students to
pursue academic excellence. Mapping academic programmes with the requirements of the
potential employment opportunities is important to reduce these expectation gaps. However,
this is not going to be an easy exercise. With regard to professions such as law, accountancy,
medicine, nursing etc., there are clear sets of definable competencies regarding performance
expectation from qualified graduates. In relation to most of the other fields, performance
expectation from a graduate may vary depending on the employer and the nature of the
employment. Any such graduate may end up with a job completely unrelated to what he or
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she has studied at the university. As we have realized from the employer survey, the ability to
take a critical approach to a problem and then choose and implement the right strategy to
solve it and patterns of thinking are equally or more important than functional competency.
Further, it is important for each university to trace their graduates after some time from
graduation (i.e., after one or two years from graduation). This would help them to understand
potential employment paths for their graduates and the skill requirements of such
employment. As stated by Egesah and Mary (2016) if universities are to improve their
teaching and training of graduates, this should be preceded by learning from the experiences
of graduates during their transition from the university to the job market through tracer
studies. Many developed countries have made considerable progressed in this regard. For
example, the UK Government conducted an Employer Skill Survey 9 in 2015 in order to
understand the changing skills requirements in different industries and professions in the
country. Such survey reports help universities and other training institutions to reorient their
programmes so that they are in line with the changing industry requirements. If such a survey
is conducted in the country at least once in several years (4 to 5 years) covering the major
industries, it would be a great boon for universities and other higher education providers in
the country in planning and reorienting their academic programmes.
5. 5 Other Recommendations
The aspirations of the youth and their parents with regard to higher education have
not been able to meet by the country’s higher education system vis-à-vis university education
due to insufficient growth in the provision of higher education during the last several decades.
However, mere expansion of higher education by setting up universities and campuses would
not be the right solution in this regard. The findings of the current study also prove it this.
The expansion of higher education should be based on proper projections of local and
international labour market requirements. That would help to minimize the problem of the
macro-level mismatch of the types of the graduates being produced by the system and the
types of graduates required by the economy. The current practice of expansion of enrolment
in priority disciplines (Technology, Engineering, Medicine, etc.) in terms economic
development and ready employability and more investment to revitalize the existing degree
programmes in other disciplines by the Ministry of Higher Education and the UGC is needed
9
As highlighted by the Employer Skills Survey 2015: UK Results, the employer Skills Survey is a vital
source of data on skills and the labour market. It offers a unique insight into the micro decisions that
employers make about factors such as recruitment, training investment and use of skills in the
workplace, which underpin the macro-level trends that drive UK economic growth and productivity
levels.
71
in this regard. However, it would be difficult to achieve the intended results in the long run
without subjecting the entire system to a full-scale revision. It is essential to devise a system
that drives/motivates the university authorities to make more responsible decisions with
regard to the public money spent on the higher education sector through the state universities.
In Sri Lanka, establishing and locating new state-sponsored universities can be

viewed as key political decisions taken by the government in power. Except in a few
instances, sporadic decisions taken in the past in this connection have aggravated the quality
issues in the university system. The disparities of employment levels among different
universities witnessed in this study could be considered as a direct reflection of quality
variation of the graduates being produced by these institutions. This disparity was high in
HEMS disciplines compared to that of STEM disciplines. Universities located in peripheries,
underperform in this regard. Due to location-related disadvantages, peripheral universities
face numerous in particular, problems. The most serious among them is the inability to attract
quality staff with required qualifications due to the remoteness. For the same reason, these
universities cannot attract quality students. In addition, there are quality issues associated
with academic programmes. The environment of most of these universities is not conducive
for many study programmes as these institutions are removed from the centres of industry
and commerce. It is equally essential to ensure that any newly established university is
managed by a qualified and experienced set of teachers and administrators. Such practices
would enable the newer institutions to introduce best practices from the beginning. Otherwise,
it will affect the quality of the graduates being produced by these institutions. The expansion
of university education in a haphazard manner is counterproductive and will invariably invite
unforeseen outcomes such as youth unrest.
Conventionally, universities are seen as places of learning and research. As Purcell

(2008) stated, universities as autonomous institutions have been perceived as ‘ivory towers’,
for many years, slightly removed from the responsibilities of society, with researchers and
academics working towards the greater good and the pursuit of knowledge and learning for
the sake of knowing. Most of the state universities in Sri Lanka which run as supply-driven
entities are not much different from how universities are viewed by Purcell in 2008. In the
case of Sri Lankan state universities, the resources required to run these institutions are not
dependent on the performance of these institutions or student demand. University cadre and
their salaries are centrally determined like in the public service. Students too are allocated to
the Universities centrally. In this supply-driven top-down system of allocation, there is no
72
motivation for the university management and teachers to deliver what the country anticipates
from the universities and to run them as cost-effective entities. Therefore, any subsidies for
higher education should target the entitled students, i.e., enrolment based funding, and
students should be allowed to target the institutions that will in their view, fulfill their
expectations. Enrolment-based funding can further be improved to an outcome-based funding
model. The system of higher education needs to ensure society that the students are getting
the best without compromising academic freedom and standards. Retaining academically
rigorous quality standards while delivering professionally relevant courses is a challenge for
our universities. At the same time, it is vital for universities to preserve their autonomy while
serving the needs of society. Stakeholders may agree that the system of higher education in
the country will not achieve these noble goals without changing the current funding and
governance model to a performance-based one that aligns the goals of the universities with
those of the wider society. Such reforms will help reduce the current skills mismatch in the
long run.
73
References
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TRACER STUDY OF GRADUATES

UNIVERSITIES IN SRI LANKA

(Sponsored by the UNESCO Participation Programme 2016/2017)

Prof. PSM Gunaratne

University Grants Commission

All rights reserved.

Lead Research Team

University Grants Commission

This publication is mainly based on a graduate tracer study conducted by the

Furthermore, we would like to acknowledge with appreciation the support of

We want to express our deepest gratitude to the data analysis team: AP

The study team is so grateful to Dr. Romola Rassool, Senior Lecturer,

Figure 1: Response rate by Academic Stream – State Universities .............................................. 7

Table 1: Selected Sample by University & Academic Stream .......................................................... 5

APIIT Asia Pacific Institute Of Information Technology

Underemployment is a significant aspect of graduate employment issue which often

Compared to Architecture, Computer Science/ IT, Allied Health Science and

The graduate employment problem is a complex one which cannot be addressed

Provision of higher education especially university education was a state

As time and money spent on education is an investment when graduates are

1.2 Study Objectives

The specific objectives of the study are:

1. to examine the overall level and the patterns of graduate employment

3. to recognize the factors associated with the employment prospects of

4. to uncover the assessment of graduates about the relevance of the

5. to ascertain employer perception of university graduates in terms of their

1.3 Data and Methodology

To achieve the objectives mentioned in the previous section of this chapter,

1.4 Study Design

Phase 1: Graduates’ Employability Survey – State Sector

The graduates’ employability survey of the state sector universities

3 Excluding Medical, Dental, Veterinary Medicine and Indigenous Medicine graduates

A questionnaire was prepared in all three languages: Sinhala, Tamil and

Colombo 172 118 31 80 10 123 534

Table 1: Selected Sample by University & Academic Stream

Phase II: Graduates’ Employability Survey –Non State Sector

The survey of the graduates produced by the non-state sector Higher

Phase III: Employer Survey

A list of companies covering a spectrum of industries who provide internship

2.2 General Profile of the Sample of Graduates

0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40% 45%

Figure 1: Response rate by Academic Stream – State Universities

Figure 2 presents the response rates by university. According to this, the

0% 10% 20% 30% 40%

Figure 2: Response rate by University – State Universities

Sinhala Tamil Moor Other

Figure 3: Gender and Ethnicity– State Universities

In relation to the non-state sector

Figure 4: Gender –Non- State Institutions

State Universities Non- State Institutions

Special / Honors General (4 years) General(3 years) Special / Honors

Figure 5: Composition by Type of the Degree

According to figure 5, a higher percentage (72.2%) of state sector graduates in

Comp. Sc./IT 100.0%

Allied Health Science 100.0%

Management 90.6% 8.7%0.8%

Education 33.3% 58.3% 8.3% Sinhala

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

Today, the provision of higher education is not a state monopoly. Annually