| Career
Guidance |
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Please note that the documents made
available for viewing are mainly in PDF format.
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| Some information more related to work at
Sri Jayewardenepura University |
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Aide Memoire used at a discussion that Charles had with academic staff members prior to starting sabbatical leave.... discusses progress being made and invites support |
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Information on two new careers education modules being prepared for delivery in Academic Year 2007/2008 |
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The module outlines proposed by Charles to the Faculty of Medical Sciences for the new degree programme on Medical Laboratory Sciences expected to be of interest as pioneering the formal inclusion of careers modules within a degree programme |
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The new employability skills development support lab - initial proposal submitted in 2004 (We are proud that we were
able to get the students too involved in envisioning the lab
- proposal for stage
2 being implemented and
completed nowand our proposal was formally supported in writing by the Students' Union of the University.) |
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Report
submitted to the University in September 2006
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Material used by Charles in a presentation to the academic staff on the need to go beyond the "Chalk & Board" approach on how he was using (in late 2004) the "US Election" as a case within a workshop on Critical Thinking |
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Some information more
related to work pioneered at national level
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Report (end of 2005) reviewing particularly the institutionalization aspect of career guidance work in Sri Lankan universities |
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Charles has not worked within the university system trying to make money through tuition work or consultancy assignments. The primary concern has right through been the development of Higher Education for the benefit of the sons and daughters of the ordinary citizen of this land of ours. Unfortunately (or fortunately from a different perspective) it was two institutions in the private sector offering UK Degree programmes locally that gave Charles the opportunity to learn, experiment with the type of quality Higher Education should be striving for. (As Charles' website shows, he accepts that many Higher Education institutes in several other countries do also maintain high levels of relevance and quality ... but the two referred to are where Charles had the opportunity. Further Charles believes that the UK mechanisms are those that are the easiest to adopt in Sri Lanka given the colonial and post-colonial links we have had.) Charles' latest paper "Forming the Sri Lankan Graduate for Tomorrow" presents his views in a systematic manner. And until (if and when) Sri Lankan Higher Education undergoes fundamental change, Charles attempted to make use of Career Guidance as a transitional support mechanism to move towards the desirable goals. It is in this context ... that the "Document prepared in 2002" and the "new document" referred to below should be looked at. What is contained there is feasible and "do-able" step by step. The employability skills orientation is seen as the first transitional step to be taken ... within which the "Careers Education Modules" referred to above will fit in. It is thus in all sincerity that Charles considers that the way forward should be along these. He respects the expertise of others in their fields ... and thinks that he deserves to be listened to given the total commitment put in (unless of course there is someone else who has devoted as much to the field). But of course, the world does not always move in such manner ... organizational politics, national politics, typical Sri Lankan politics, personal agendas etc are all part of life ... together with dedication, commitment, hard work, respect for development and continuity etc ... and so let us see which way the pendulum swings, what type of equilibrium sets in, and what the future may be! |
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With more work, and further experience of the constraints of working within the University system as experienced in the different universities ... the grandiose plan of 1999 was seen as one for the long term. More reasonable targets were set in a document prepared in 2002 . That was officially adopted at national level by the University Grants Commission and sent to the Universities. The units were requested to try to concentrate on at least 3 of the 6 following areas: 1. Career Counselling 2. Information
Services
3. Networking
4. Work
Experience
5. Graduate Placement 6. Integration within Curricula With a newer leadership at the University Grants Commission in early 2006, and demands being made for us to be doing more, there was a review of the areas of work. In the discussions continuity was emphasised as essential if we were to make progress in this new area. About the middle of 2006 we submitted a new document expanding the earlier list to include two more components: 1. Counselling and Advice on Careers 2. Employability Skills 3. Information Services 4. Networking 5. Work Experience 6. Graduate Placement 7. Integration within Curricula. 8. Training, Research and Development |
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| 'Grandiose'
Plan for
Career Guidance work in the Universities as proposed in 1999. With
experience of work (note: Career
Guidance was introduced into Sri Lankan Universities only in 1998)
this was made more realistic in 2002. (see above) |
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