Untitled Document

Business schools - how good are they?
By Suren Gnanaraj and Thushara Matthias

A frontal view of a popular institute. Pic by Ishara Kodikara

If you are a parent contemplating your child's future, or a student aspiring to be a professional in the field of management or accounting, the first of many worrying questions would be, "what is the best programme of study I should choose?"
Despite Sri Lanka's literacy rate being over 90 percent, only two percent of the student population can gain admission to local universities. Many students either pursue their higher education abroad, or take to the latest trend of acquiring professional qualifications.

Living in a highly competitive environment, the key today is to be the youngest professional to enter the job market, according to those involved in hiring in the private sector.

"Those possessing

qualifications such as business diplomas, CIMA (Chartered Institute of Management Accountants) and CIM (Chartered Institute of Marketing) definitely have an edge over the other candidates," says Denver Rozairo, Marketing Executive of Logical Solutions Pvt. Ltd. Others in the corporate sector differ.

High fees and big classes
Why are private institutes allowed to just keep enrolling students, charge exorbitant fees and not ensure that each student is given an equal amount of attention? Should we continue to classify good institutes from the number of world prizes they win each year?

Sunday Times FT reporters posed as students in an effort to check the standard of the education provided by some of these institutes. We were surprised by what we found. Posing as Stage 3 students in distress, we rang a few popular institutes that conducted CIMA classes in Colombo. With CIMA exams scheduled for next month, we expected the institutes to maintain strong business ethics, which would ensure that all students under their wings are geared to succeed.

However, the constant recruitment of new students is still being done, increasing the possibility of a student failing due to late admission.

When contacted, all these institutes were quite enthusiastic about admitting us as latecomers and we were also told about our "special latecomer's fee", with the assurance that, "learning under a reputed institute would ensure that you cannot fail." When we inquired as to how big the classes were, the average response was between 100-250 students. This is while CIMA, UK has stipulated only a maximum of 25. The reality of this exam is that only 26 - 35 percent pass each semester. If students are to be treated as mere faces in a crowd, and no authority takes measures to prevent overcrowding, then very soon we may see a steady decline in the future success rates of these exams.

Caesar Richard of Richard Trading and Co said that, when interviewing a potential executive, he does not give preference to an individual who is highly qualified over one with work experience. Today, professional qualifications have given students the opportunity to work while studying, and gain valuable practical experience to remain competitive in the job market.

Mushrooming industry

With the demand for profes

sional qualifications far exceeding the supply, private institutes are mushrooming across the island in order to feed the growing need for qualified professionals from an expanding corporate sector. Some of these business schools do provide a good education.

Chanaka Livera, Marketing Manager of Colombo Business School (CBS), when asked to comment about the current trend of institutes charging high fees and providing students with poor facilities, said, "CBS maintains very high standards. Our lecturer-student relationship is quite strong. We value our students' opinions. If a student encounters a problem with regard to our institute, we act on the matter immediately."

The school provides all necessary facilities to students including air-conditioned classrooms.

Exploiting students
But there are others which do
not provide quality education and exploit students and parents.
Shezan Rali, studying for a degree in Business and IT, says he took a year off to decide on a course and an institute that could give him value for money. He says, "Most students are drawn towards professional institutes from what they see in advertisements, which are sometimes misleading."

Unlike in the West, students in Sri Lanka lack the benefit of an independent authority which can provide them with information regarding the legitimacy of these private institutes and the quality of their courses.

The Tertiary and Vocational Education Commission (TVEC) was set-up in 1992 with the aim of policy formulation, quality assurance, and development of tertiary and vocational education in the island.

Students in a classroom (library pic).

The Commission's objectives are to develop, review and formulate matters pertaining to tertiary and vocational education and implement a national system of quality assurance through measures such as the registration of institutes and accreditation of training courses.

But despite public concern about the quality of the education provided by some of these institutes, no action has been taken so far to ensure proper standards. Private institutes keep increasing, and many students are taught a bitter lesson when some of them either close down mid-way or continue to charge exorbitant fees despite providing sub-standard diplomas and professional courses.

When asked why the TVEC has remained dormant in the past few years, its Deputy Director General, W.A.S.S. de Silva, said, "I admit that students are being exploited on a large scale by these private institutes.

However, since we are a small organisation that lacks resources to implement the law, there is very little that we can do."

Under the Tertiary and Vocational Education Act No.20 of 1990, all institutes, whether public or private, must be registered under this commission or face closure. When an institution makes an application for registration, the TVEC is bound to inspect its professional courses and facilities, subsequent to which a certificate is issued.

However, due to the commission's policy to remain a 'non-investigative' authority, most private institutes have never been registered with the commission. Therefore, the TVEC is unaware of the number of institutes that have been set up or closed in the island.

De Silva however said that the commission was in the process of introducing an accreditation programme to regulate all sectors that come under tertiary and vocational education.

He said that a special committee consisting of a group of professionals in a particular sphere, such as IT, would formulate the essential guidelines which an institute conducting such programmes must comply with.

He is optimistic that by the end of 2003, the National Training Standard certificate, which will be issued to all accredited institutes, would be a benchmark by which the public could assess the standards of an institute.

Positive step
Though still in its infancy, this
is the first positive step that the commission has taken in order to standardise these institutes. However, only time can tell as to how effectively these policies will be implemented and accepted.

One drawback of this project was the inability of the TVEC to monitor an institute which is accredited to ensure that it constantly maintains the required standards.

CIMA Sri Lanka proudly boasts of being the largest professional body in Sri Lanka. It provides courses for both full and part time students and has gained tremendous popularity over the years. Damayanthi Seneviratne , the Student Development Manager of CIMA, explained how this international qualification is conducted locally.
CIMA UK has drawn up three levels, namely the "Innovation" level, which is the apex, "Quality Standards" and the "Threshold" level.

All Sri Lankan institutes are in the 'Threshold' level due to their inability to maintain the required student-teacher ratio, large libraries and advanced IT facilities. However, Seneviratne said that "though Malaysia has two 'Quality Standard' Institutes, Sri Lanka's pass rate has always been much higher than Malaysia's."

When asked whether the CIMA division closely monitored these private institutes, Aruna Alwis, the Divisional manager of CIMA, answered in the positive. He said that though the division could not make binding orders, they usually visited the institutes and made their observations and recommendations, which are often complied with by the institutes.

He said that the CIMA division plays an active role in assisting students to obtain information. It provides all registered students the opportunity to use its modern library.

Alwis agreed that since CIMA was becoming more popular across the island, there was a great possibility of businessmen trying to set up institutes that may provide sub-standard services at very high prices.

Awareness programmes
Currently, the division has
joined hands with the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce to conduct awareness programmes across the country, to educate the public on CIMA and to detect any institutes that may be set up without the knowledge of the division. Alwis was confident that due to the cutthroat competition that exists between the present private institutes, the standards of teaching and facilities would continue to improve.
"The World Prize is an excellent incentive, which has motivated the lecturers of institutes to strive harder for excellence."

The CIM Sri Lanka Division is satisfied with the present standards maintained by local institutes with regard to the CIM marketing qualification. Rasika Wickramatunga, the Public Relations Officer for CIM in Sri Lanka, said that CIM UK has an accreditation scheme for institutes that conduct this programme.

After an institution has been in existence for two years, they are eligible to apply for the annual accreditation certificate. Delegates from CIM UK are invited to conduct accreditation assessments and suggest possible improvements.

Currently there are five accredited institutes in Sri Lanka. As an independent body, the division does not recommend institutions to registered students but advises them to join accredited institutions.

When asked whether the division could take action against institutions that did not maintain proper standards, he said, "Unfortunately, we do not have a legal arm to do the job. But in this competitive environment none of the institutes would want to lose their market, so they would strive to provide the best services to remain ahead of the competition."

Dr. Bhadra Arachchige, acting Dean of the Faculty of Management Studies and Commerce of The University of Sri Jayawardenapura, said students should realistically evaluate the course they intend to follow and decide whether they really want to do it. "Following a course and getting a certificate is not what tertiary education is all about," she said.

Echoing the sentiments of the public, Arachchige said, "Today, as a nation, we must be more concerned about quality education, which has turned out to be a grave problem."

Back to Business