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to
Charles Fernando's |
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& family |
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| Welcome | website |
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| Recent
News ... see bottom of page |
(The one on the left is dated Dec 2006, while that on the right was taken in Jan 2007.)
Photostories about Charles & family - 60s onwards up to 2004 - Year 2005 - Year 2006 - Year 2007 & (the hopefully interesting/typical) Reflections 2007 part 1 (the slightly more critical) Reflections 2007 part 2 (from the latter one can branch off to a section on the 'Tamil' question) |
including the module outlines proposed by Charles to the Faculty of Medical Sciences
expected to be of interest as pioneering the formal inclusion of careers modules within a degree programme
as well as material used by Charles for a presentation to the academic staff
on how he was using (in late 2004) the "US Election" as a case within a workshop on Critical Thinking
Information on the Higher Education Renewal and Reform website
started in 2003, updated a little in 2004 ...
(quite popular e.g. on the Google Search Engine)
Charles hopes he could complete this during his sabbatical now.
Having committed, since 1985, his total life to Higher Education (both State & Private Sector)
Charles believes that fundamental changes are needed
not in 'privatising' Higher Education
nor in following the path of the "mal-oriented" IRQUE project that is using a 40 million US dollar loan
but ...
The article 'Forming the Sri Lankan Graduate for Tomorrow' referred to below has some information too
Some academic documents
pertaining to
Charles' work for Imperial Institute
providing an indication that, if one wants to,
Sri Lanka can and does reach quality levels in Higher Education
that satisfy the criteria of UK's Quality Assurance Agency
Charles' work for Imperial Institute
providing an indication that, if one wants to,
Sri Lanka can and does reach quality levels in Higher Education
that satisfy the criteria of UK's Quality Assurance Agency
Some of Charles'
articles
including "Forming the Sri Lankan Graduate for Tomorrow"
- a paper presented in March 2007.
including "Forming the Sri Lankan Graduate for Tomorrow"
- a paper presented in March 2007.
Keynote
Address by Charles
at convention organised by the Human Resource Development Council of Sri Lanka (Oct.2005)
on a proposed Parliamentary Act to establish a national council related to Career Guidance
at convention organised by the Human Resource Development Council of Sri Lanka (Oct.2005)
on a proposed Parliamentary Act to establish a national council related to Career Guidance
Charles and his "primitive blogs"
With son Rukmal planning
to
undertake an MSc,
From January 2007, Nilmini
has been doing a Diploma in Child Psychology
and completed the examinations and the submission of the project on 30th July.
The project was a case study on a set of triplets. The text is available here.
Results are not out yet but everything should normally be OK.
and completed the examinations and the submission of the project on 30th July.
The project was a case study on a set of triplets. The text is available here.
Results are not out yet but everything should normally be OK.
not all documents are available here online (the CD version being passed to some friends being an exception).
If you are keenly interested in any document referred to here but is not available online
such will be transmitted to you via e-mail if you contact "charles_fernando at yahoo dot com".
Recent News 16th July 2007 At the end of August Rukmal will start his Masters in Internet and Distributed Systems at the College of Computer and Information Science of Northeastern University, Boston. We are fully supportive as we all agree that it is better to complete such studies before marriage and before progressing further in the job. I have this week completed legally transferring the ownership of our 10-perch land and house to Rukmal and Nilmini and that will be mortgaged to Sampath Bank for a short term two-million loan to facilitate Rukmal's studies. Yes, study abroad is expensive and what is required is estimated as about 55 times my monthly salary as a Senior Lecturer! (We wanted three but my salary is too low ... and whatever capabilities I may have does not make me worth the amount even as a guarantor! But -- irrespective of what I might write here -- that is the "real" world that matters when one comes to think of it! Well ...) The "passport" problem (referred to within 'reflections') was finally solved on 3rd July and Rukmal and Nilmini (who have lived in Sri Lanka since January 1985) (are no longer 'kallathoni' or whatever) but are now legal citizens of Sri Lanka. The passports were issued on 13th July.We lost 5 months in the process but I had stood firm that I was not going to pay the fine that was imposed as I had done at the Sri Lanka Embassy in Brussels all that was required soon after the births of Rukmal and Nilmini and that the absence/loss of documents is no problem of mine. Thanks to all those who helped. With the Bank loan (for which we still have to complete a number of formalities and obtain various documents from the land registry and the town council etc. ... and I am busy on those now) and documents from other guarantors etc we are hopeful the US Embassy will issue the visa ... and that Rukmal can move on to what he has been dreaming about. Charles, having finally started his sabbatical ... (though there are opportunities here in Sri Lanka) wishes to do a small stint abroad after so many years of work in Sri Lanka. He is currently searching for an opportunity of work abroad to try to earn a little of what he will spend on his son's studies abroad. (Yes, do please let him know if you know anything appropriate.) For Charles age is a constraint. And he is applying very late. (He had to delay taking his sabbatical till now because he wanted to finish the pironeering sort of work he began at the Career Guidance Unit. And then finally even though his 2 years of leave is from 1st January 2007 to 1st January 2009, he voluntarily gave 3 months back to the University working full-time till end of March! That explains the delay in taking sabbatical. But he could not apply for work outside because he was not quite sure of being able to leave Sri Lanka. He and the family were taking care of his mother who completed 90 in January and passed away in March.) So age and applying at the last moment are both constraints. Further, even though many foreigners are working in Sri Lanka -- e.g. over 3000 in the NGOs and also a lot in the business world -- there appear to be a lot of restrictions about foreigners working in the developed world except in a few specific fields. So those are handicaps. But he is hoping some university will think that his experience and breadth can be exploited in student services partciularly career guidance and student counselling. Such an involvement can be "enriching" and a "refresher" for him to hopefully continue to provide a meaningful contribution when back later in Sri Lanka. As his university provides two tickets (for self and spouse) Charles, Felicia and Nilmini (who has now earned a little to be able to at least pay for her ticket!) may travel. If a job does not work, he will at least travel a little to visit and spend a few days each with friends at different places benefitting from their hospitality ! Let us see and hope ... And so life goes on ... and friends will be kept updated. |
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On 19th July 2007 morning,
Charles was invited by NethFM radio to take
part in a radio panel discussion conducted over telephone on the
subject of education and employment. Prof Tissa Kariyawasam (Senior
Professor of Sinhala), Mr Dilantha Vithanage (a consultant) and Charles
took part. It was conducted in the Sinhala language. A few extracts are available in the audio clip available here. Charles' intenvention right at the beginning dealt mainly with the need for Sri Lankan Higher Education to forget trying to fill a student's brain with knowledge. The last extract was in response to a question about the need for English and Computing, when Charles stressed that these two were needed ... but that even students who had not completed a degree could excel in these ... and that a graduate could be productive and innovative only if such were combined with higher order skills that were in demand (e.g. analytical ability, critical thinking, problem solving etc) . |
Please note that the Higher Education Reform and Renewal website is not included within material available at this free site. Given space constraints a few photos and some documents may be missing too. If you really need to have the full version on CD you may mail Charles at charles_fernando at yahoo dot com. last updated 30th July 2007
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