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BA (General) Degree: Revised Curriculum Faculty of Social Sciences University of Kelaniya

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BA (General) Degree: Revised Curriculum Faculty of Social Sciences University of Kelaniya BA (General) Degree: Revised Curriculum Faculty of Social Sciences University of Kelaniya 2014 October PREFACE The Faculty of Social Sciences (FSS) successfully revised the curriculum of the B.A. Special Degree Program with the assistance of the IRQUE project in 2010. With the experience, the exposure and the knowledge obtained from that exercise the need for revising curriculum of the BA General Degree study program (GDSP) was realized. During the last several decades, the FSS has not been able to revise the curricular of the GDSPs and it has severely affected the quality of graduates and relevance of the degree programme to current requirements of the nation. Then a committee was appointed to prepare an academic development proposal by the Dean of the FSS. The proposal submitted by the FSS focusing on these aspects along with a development plan to the HETC competitive grants was accepted and a total sum of rupees twenty million was granted under QIG Window 1 for carrying out the project. One of the major activities of the development plan is Curriculum Development (CD) of the BA (General) degree programme modules of the FSS. Abiding by the rules and regulations pertaining to the grant, the positions of an Overall Consultant (OC) and 17 Subject Specialists (SS) for the 17 study modules including Economics, Geography, Development Studies, International Relations, Mass Communication, Library Sciences, History, Archaeology, Anthropology, Sociology, Social Statistics, Philosophy and Political Sciences of the BA (General) degree were advertised and the most suitable candidates were selected from among the applicants. All the SSs had been appointed in consultation of the Head and staff members of the respective Departments. The OC and all SSs signed agreements with the University of Kelaniya (UOK) for undertaking the CD process of the FSS. The first workshop on Curriculum Planning (WCP) was successfully conducted to discuss the CD process of the FSS. The Deans of both faculties, senior staff of the both faculties, OC, SSs, stakeholders and project officials participated in the workshop. We recognize the fact that improving the quality of the BA (General) graduates cannot be achieved through revision of only the modules contributed by the FSS to BA(General) degree curriculum because FSS and FH are twin faculties that contribute to BA (General) degree, and the majority of the undergraduates of both faculties follow at least one or two courses from either FSS or FH. Therefore, we have extended our goodwill to include the FH into CD based on their self-commitment without incurring any additional cost to the HETC funds. Our OC provided voluntary academic support to the FH. Subsequent to the first CD Workshop, a series of mini workshops on Designing Curricular (WDC) were held at Departmental level under the guidance of the OC, with the participation of the respective SSs and members of the Departments during the past several months at each department of FSS. The participants of the WDC were able to clarify the issues and formulate desired Graduate Profile and the Programme Outcomes of the degree program. As the 3rd step of the CD process, a workshop on ‘Student Centered Learning; Outcome based Learning and Setting up a Common Framework for the General Degree Study Program’ was held to set up a Common Framework for the curriculum of both faculties and to Idnetify learning activities and time requirements for the ILOs. Next workshop on Workshop on Course Formulation (WCF) and Course sequencing were the final programmes of the CD of the FSS. The objectives of the WCF was to map the identified learning activities and time durations with the intended program outcomes that had been established during the previous workshops, removal of unnecessary repetition of learning activities, formulation of courses combining related learning outcomes, and assigning credit values considering time requirements for learning activities. The final workshop on Course sequencing was held at the faculty under the guidance of the OC, with the participation of all the SSs and departmental members. This is a first kind innovative exercise for CD. The task would not have been succesfuls without the support of many academics and administrators of the UOK. I wish to express my gratitude to the Present Vice Chancellor and former Vice Chancellor, Director of the HETC project, Dean of the FSS, Dean of the FH, all the Heads of the i Departments and senior staff of the FSS and other parties who helped in various ways to the success of the CD process. I wish to extend my gratitude to the OC for conducting main workshops and mini workshops to guide the CD process and formulation of the Graduate Profile and Program Outcomes, guiding course formulation and sequencing, compiling all inputs and preparing this document. I am grateful to all the SSs for providing valuable service to the CD of the FSS. Finally, I wish to express my sincere thanks to the Activity Coordinators and Management Assistant of Project and other nonacademic members and the FSS. After a long exercise, the FSS has been able to prepare the CD of the GDSP. We The QIG, Window 1 & 2 of the FSS under the HETC project of the World Bank have spent nearly 4 million SLR for achieving the objectives. We are extending our gratitude to the funding agency. Prof. Lal Mervin Dharmasiri Coordinator QIG, Windows 1 & 2 under the HETC project Faculty of Social Sciences University of Kelaniya. ii MESSAGE FROM THE DEAN Curriculum Development (CD) is a vital requirement for updating available or newly designed curricular to match with national and global requirement. The Faculty of Social Sciences (FSS) has identified the requirement and taken necessary steps to revise its curricular to produce skillful, competent and scholastic graduates. I have appointed a committee headed by Prof. Lal Mervin Dharmasiri and other four members Prof. U. A. Chandrasena, Prof. W.A. Weerasooriya, Dr. W.A. Semasinghe and Dr. Sarath Witharana to prepare a development proposal to the FSS. The proposal has been submitted to the HETC project of the World Bank in 2012. After consideration of the proposal, the HETC project has granted a 20 million SLR for carry out the project activities. The CD is the major activity of the project and the FSS was able to finalize the B.A. (General), General Degree Program of the FSS within about one year time period. The CD process has been completed with the help of an Overall Consultant in Outcomes based Curriculum Development and 17 other Subject Specialists who were selected from outside the University of Kelaniya, and appointed to achieve the objectives of the project. At the initial stage of the proposal preparation period, I have provided necessary support by allocating 25 temporary assistant lectures for collecting data and information for preparation of the project proposal. In addition, all the facilities including a project office has been provided for project activities. Furthermore, every necessary support was provided for smooth functioning the project activities. I am happy that the CD of the B.A. (General) program of the FSS has been successfully completed by the project within the given framework. I am extending my sincere thanks to the present Vice Chancellor, Prof. Sunanda Madduma Bandara, former Vice Chancellor, Prof. Sarath Amunugama, former Director of the HETC project, Prof. L.L. Rathnayake, present Director of the HETC project Prof. K.A. Nandasena, Dean of the FH, Prof. Luxman Senevirathne, all the Heads of the Departments and staff of the FSS and other parties who helped in various ways to the success of the CD process. I wish to extend my gratitude to the Overall Consultant, Prof. (Mrs.) Kalyani Perera and other Subject Specialists for providing their service to successful achievement of the project objectives. I am specially thankful to the project Coordinator and Activity Coordinators who have voluntary contributed their support to the development of the FSS. In addition, I am extending my thanks to all the non-academic staff of the faculty who have provided their service towards success of the event. Finally, I am extending my gratitude to the QIG, Window 1 & 2 of the HETC project of the World Bank for funding the development program of the FSS. Prof. Chandana Abhyarathne Dean/ FSS University of Kelaniya. iii MESSAGE FROM THE OVERALL CONSULTANT The Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Kelaniya has become the pioneer in the Arts and Humanities stream of the Sri Lankan University Education System to adopt Outcomes based approach for reformulating the curriculum of the BA (General) degree programme. This task was accomplished under the guidance of an Overall Consultant and the leadership of 17 Subject Specialists selected for the purpose, through a consultative process involving the Heads and members of respective departments. A summarized account of the steps involved in curriculum reformulation process which extended over 14 months period, is given below: Considering the aspirations of the stakeholders and the current trends in Higher Education arena, Outcomes based approach was selected for curriculum reformulation. Desired Profile of the BA (General) graduates produced by the Faculty of Social Sciences was identified at a Curriculum Planning workshop, considering the expectations of the Faculty, views of the stakeholders, vision and mission of the University and qualification descriptors specified in Sri Lanka Qualification Framework. A series of mini workshops were conducted at departmental level to refine the Desired Graduate profile and to identify the Desired Module Outcomes. The desired outcomes were separated into Generic Outcomes and Subject Specific Outcomes, and further sub divided into Knowledge (K), Skills (S) and Attitude (A) domains. For identification purposes, each outcome was given a code number that included the abbreviated Module /Generic name, domain, and its numerical order.
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