We highly suggest you to upload commercial publisher of PDF versions of articles to ResearhGate only if that article comes under open access policies or it has been permitted by the Copyright Transfer Agreement. If not simply, you committing to academic disputes. We have seen universities promote sharing research via ResearchGate without mentioning the ethics behind it. They emphasize authors will get good academic merits when it comes to their PhD placements and etc, but I wonder if one commits this academic unethical behavior he/she will be blacklisted. Therefore, what is required is to be educated first prior to implementation.
Research is the foremost important aspect of academia. New knowledge is created by research and it is shared via different avenues. Journal publication is one of them. Scholars select different types of journals and categorize them as high ranking, moderate and low impact journals. Sharing happens in these three categories but many of them seeks for high ranking journals as benchmarking for their publications provided the anticipated impact those journals creates in the literature. Soon after the publication authors seek more widespread attention other than the desired journal gets the article is published. To satisfy this motive different repositories and networking sites (ResearchGate, Academia, Mendeley and etc.) have emerged. So what authors do is after the publishing they extract the article from the journal and distribute it via networking sites with objective of seeking more attention. Sometimes the author may genuinely having an objective to create an academic impact but very less of them know the ethicality of such an approach. This ethicality arises because once an article published with a journal the sole right remains with the publisher. Having said that, secondary attention seeking attempts like sharing articles via networking sites bring copyright issues. We have seen many academic institutions promote sharing research via networking sites but they rarely address the roots of it. If an author seeks to publish his/her papers through ResearchGate and etc, he/she should carefully check the version of the article uploaded. These risks can be settled and convinced after reading the copyright/ publishing agreement of the journal. Many journals allow authors to republish articles through networking sites by ways of, the author’s pre-print, the published version or the author’s accepted version. Therefore, we suggest you to read the Copyright Transfer Agreement prior to share it with ResearchGate. At the same time many journals provide open access policies also. If you are unaware of open access policies of a journal, Sherpa Romeo would provide you with facts.
We highly suggest you to upload commercial publisher of PDF versions of articles to ResearhGate only if that article comes under open access policies or it has been permitted by the Copyright Transfer Agreement. If not simply, you committing to academic disputes. We have seen universities promote sharing research via ResearchGate without mentioning the ethics behind it. They emphasize authors will get good academic merits when it comes to their PhD placements and etc, but I wonder if one commits this academic unethical behavior he/she will be blacklisted. Therefore, what is required is to be educated first prior to implementation.
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Treating the Root Cause: Where has Gone Wrong with Small and Medium Entrepreneurs in Sri Lanka?8/12/2015 There is no any question, entrepreneurship is a very important practice in fostering various country level indicators. In the perspective of academic, this contribution is made in two levels. One is corporate entrepreneurship and the other refers to independent entrepreneurship. The former refers to practice of entrepreneurship in established firms whereas the later refers to the practice of entrepreneurship in individual levels. The contributions made by these two extremes to the national economy vary differently. In a context like Sri Lanka, independent entrepreneurship has given comparatively high importance provided their importance and contributions to the national economy. But our research indicate that there is a problem or a confusion exists in relation to small and medium entrepreneur’s definitional angles. Academically, some define an entrepreneur who runs a profit generating venture. But our view in this regard is that, mere profit generating activity certainly differs from entrepreneurship. Still unbeatable academic definition of entrepreneurship affirms the need and identification of an entrepreneurial opportunity at the outset and thereby converting that opportunity into a viable venture. Therefore, in the perspective of entrepreneurial opportunity recognition as the heart of entrepreneurship, we say there are less number of independent small and medium entrepreneurs exist in Sri Lanka. Thus this dilemma arises in relation to the definition of entrepreneurship in the context of Sri Lanka. We agree the fact that, all small and medium entrepreneurs in Sri Lanka have identified some degree of an entrepreneurial opportunity, or otherwise they will not start their venture. But importantly, sustainability is in paramount importance and the majority have disregarded it. To develop the notion of sustainability of a venture, the degree of entrepreneurial opportunity recognition is important. Which means, the high level of entrepreneurial opportunity relates to high level of venture sustainability. High level of opportunity refers to an entrepreneurial opportunity which actually fills a need in the market place. To fill a need in the marketplace, novelty is important. If high level of opportunities are pursued in a venture sustainability of the venture may facilitated and thus true entrepreneurship can be executed regardless of the size of the firm. Therefore, a mere profit generating venture is differentiated form an entrepreneurial venture. Provided that, our observation shows that authoritative bodies of small and medium entrepreneurs in Sri Lanka do not have recognized what is being entrepreneurial. We appreciate the fact that those authoritative bodies have been implementing various initiatives to stimulate small and medium entrepreneurs in Sri Lanka. But those bodies do not convince the root cause of entrepreneurial success. Which is the need of high levels of entrepreneurial opportunity recognitions which actually fills a gap in the market with the novelty aspect. Therefore we suggest to implement and to educate small and medium entrepreneurs who have been registered and conducting businesses under authoritative bodies in relation to entrepreneurial opportunity recognition dimension. Also, the other observations of our research implied the need of stimulating entrepreneurial education regardless of the various initiatives implemented. Our research indicated that small and medium entrepreneurs do lack in knowledge about how managing their ventures. We observed that knowledge in relation to financial aspects and knowledge in relation to relative competitors of the firm are lack among them though number of initiatives have been taken place. Therefore, entrepreneurial education in relation to opportunity recognition, innovations, competitive strategies, risk management strategies are some of the strategies needed apart from the current initiatives. We have identified entrepreneurial education as a root cause of high failure rates among small and medium entrepreneurs in Sri Lanka. our rationale here is that, none of the aspects of managing strategies of profit, costs, and etc will no longer successfully implemented unless the root cause of entrepreneurial success is not addressed. Thus treating the root cause is important to develop sustainable entrepreneurship in a country. Apart from the entrepreneurial education we suggested our research indicated that small and medium entrepreneurs lack with unique capabilities and resources in relation to their ventures. Applying the academic notions of entrepreneurship unique resources and capabilities strengthen the sustainability of a venture. Putting it very simple, though small and medium ventures are comparatively small in scale unique resources and entrepreneurial capabilities are need to be developed if the venture to fill a gap in the market. Possession of unique resources clearly differentiates a venture from a mere profit generating activity once more. Advantages over their competitors can be gained and successful entrepreneurship can be executed thereby. The general understanding among the small and medium entrepreneurs is that gaining advantages over their competitors and being competitive is only relates to large businesses. Our justification here is that, to be competitive the scale of the business is not a criteria. Furthermore, Sri Lankan cultural inheritance also provides important implications to the practice. In general, Sri Lankan small and medium entrepreneurs’ employee less than 99 employees. Provided that we have observed that the distance between the owner of the firm and his/her employee is substantially large. Which means in firms owners resist to distribute their authorities (powers) among their employees. This scenario led employees to feel as mere employees who follow direct orders of the owner and eventually they become demotivated and causes employee dependency. Also it was noted that high rules and regulations and standardized procedures are implemented as a result of the perceived uncertainty about the business environment. The small and medium entrepreneurial venture segment in Sri Lanka is predominantly female driven. Provided the cultural inheritance of Sri Lanka, households are father dominated and mothers prefer to look after their children. But this trend has been changing at present. As a remedial action to high costs of livings and standards, women tend to start their additional income generating activities besides the income that is being generated by men. This nature has led the women to start their business with a conventional setting and perhaps with less entrepreneurial knowledge. Our research studies highly recommend that, business initiatives as means of income generating activities are good, but to be entrepreneurial it requires strategic entrepreneurial thinking. Putting it very simple, running a small entrepreneurial venture is not running a mere business venture as we mentioned above. This large proportionate female participation of small ventures lead them to pay emphasis of social factors. Because men favor for ego goals whereas female favor for social factors. Overall, we state that owner manager of a firm have all the powers to change organizational politics with a stroke of a pen. All the hiring, promoting and demoting are done as per the owner of the firm and thus the future of the firm simply determines by the owner. But, changing cultural attitudes are relatively a hard attempt. Therefore, we conclude that being entrepreneurial typically requires an entrepreneurial strategy, entrepreneurial opportunity seeking behaviors, possession of unique resources which no any other venture hold, and managing the venture successfully provided the diverse cultural backgrounds of employees. These strategies required to be implemented in national level provided these as the root causes of venture failure. “Sustainability is in paramount importance and the majority have disregarded it” “There is a problem or a confusion exists in relation to small and medium entrepreneur’s definitional angles” “Entrepreneurial education is important.” “We have identified entrepreneurial education as a root cause of high failure rates among small and medium entrepreneurs in Sri Lanka” “The small and medium entrepreneurial venture segment in Sri Lanka is predominantly female driven.” Actually, at the outset, I would like to tell you the fact that, the reason to flow my fingers on the key board was instilled by a television show I watched on this Poya day. I’m not a genius in Buddhism; nonetheless, this is what I learnt. As we grow, ‘life experiences’ become one of the most central themes in shaping our behavior. This has been one of the conditions of the Noble Eightfold Path in Buddhism as well. These Noble Truths consists of a set of eight interconnected factors or conditions, that when developed together, lead to the cessation of dukkha. These eight factors are: Right View (or Right Understanding), Right Intention (or Right Thought), Right Speech, Right Action, Right Livelihood, Right Effort, Right Mindfulness, and Right Concentration. Given this concise explanation, I would like to express the first view (right understanding) of the Noble Eightfold Path of Buddhism. I believe that this notion be firmly convinced by a simple example. As we know the tale of the Stonecutter has roots to Buddhism as well as Chinese influences. Anyway, let’s see that the tale depicts about the notion.. There was once a stonecutter, who was really dissatisfied with his position in life. Every day he went into the mountains to hew stones from the rocks. He had this aggravated life and he dreamed for a wonderful life to get rid of the routine that he had. Simply put he had a ‘thorough expectation’. One day, he passed a wealthy merchant's house, and through the open gateway, saw many fine possessions and important visitors. "How powerful that merchant must be!" thought the stonecutter. He became very envious, and wished that he could be like the merchant. Then he would no longer have to live the life of a mere stonecutter. To his great surprise, he suddenly became the merchant, enjoying more luxuries and power than he had ever dreamed of, envied and detested by those less wealthy than himself. But soon a high official passed by, carried in a sedan chair, accompanied by attendants, and escorted by soldiers beating gongs. Everyone, no matter how wealthy, had to bow low before the procession. "How powerful that official is!" he thought. "I wish that I could be a high official!" Then he became the high official, carried everywhere in his embroidered sedan chair, feared and hated by the people all around, who had to bow down before him as he passed. It was a hot summer day, and the official felt very uncomfortable in the sticky sedan chair. He looked up at the sun. It shone proudly in the sky, unaffected by his presence. "How powerful the sun is!" he thought. "I wish that I could be the sun!" Then he became the sun, shining fiercely down on everyone, scorching the fields, cursed by the farmers and laborers. But a huge black cloud moved between him and the earth, so that his light could no longer shine on everything below. "How powerful that storm cloud is!" he thought. "I wish that I could be a cloud!" Then he became the cloud, flooding the fields and villages, shouted at by everyone. But soon he found that he was being pushed away by some great force, and realized that it was the wind. "How powerful it is!" he thought. "I wish that I could be the wind!" Then he became the wind, blowing tiles off the roofs of houses, uprooting trees, hated and feared by all below him. But after a while, he ran up against something that would not move, no matter how forcefully he blew against it — a huge, towering stone. "How powerful that stone is!" he thought. "I wish that I could be a stone!" he thought. "I wish that I could be a stone!" Then he became the stone, more powerful than anything else on earth. But as he stood there, he heard the sound of a hammer pounding a chisel into the solid rock, and felt himself being changed. "What could be more powerful than I, the stone?" he thought. He looked down and saw far below him the figure of a Stonecutter. He said to him; ‘What?! That man is stronger than I am….!?’ So he turned back into a stonecutter who went into the mountains hewing stone, under the hot sun and in the pouring rain.. So that’s the end of the tail. What we can gain out of it?? I have titled this concise note as, “An Understanding”. Besides, this tale begins with a man who was really dissatisfied with his life. Tired being a stonecutter; he becomes many things in his quest for authority, each time finding that greater power lies elsewhere. Stonecutter is a story about the nature of ‘power’ and the VALUE of accepting who you are. Thus this brings an insight about the value of understanding you and your life……………. Abstract Mainly, due to new scientific inquiries and technological advancements Knowledge becomes obsolete. So it creates a dilemma where the applicability of so called theories and models which we learnt in class can still be applied to solve problems? Thus, the scholars bring the notion of RESEARCH as a definite solution which enriches the existing understanding of a phenomenon. This can be either a theory testing or a theory extension (theory building) approach. In fact, gap identification and formulating a research problem are vital for a research project. The note details two approaches to identify research gap and thereby to formulate a research problem. What is Research? We as commerce and management students, we often talk about Law of Demand, Theory of venture growth, Theory of Resource Based View, Innovation Theory, Big Five Theory, so on and so forth. These models, theories and laws are created as a result of RESEARCH. As academics we disseminate knowledge utilizing those so called theories or models. But, those theories and models turn out to be outdated or obsolete. Therefore, the applicability can be problematic. Thus we need a solution. That is RESEARCH. Simply put, research attempts to create new knowledge. It can be either a theory testing approach or a theory extension approach (theory building approach). By means of a theory testing or a theory extension approaches new knowledge is created. Also, research is not all about collecting, classifying, and arranging mere data and information. It is about interpretation of data and information. In fact, theory defines parameters and possibilities of interpretation, (Uyangoda, 2011). Perhaps most notably, these interpretations can lead to either theory building or theory testing. This is termed as the validation of research based knowledge, (Uyangoda, 2011). To be more concise, let’s take an example. Barney (1991) postulated the notion of Resource Based Theory, which is one of the seminal works in the contemporary strategic management. He stated that, ‘[f]our empirical indicators of the potential of firm resources to generate sustained competitive advantage – value, rareness, imitability, and sustainability – are discussed’ (p.99). Thus a particular researcher may test this theory in a different context. He may add more variables or concepts to test the theory. Importantly, he may build rational relationships among variables. These relationships are actually theorist’s guesses about the reality. Such guesses are called as ‘Research Hypothesis’ or ‘Propositions’. Finally, the researcher may test the research hypothesis and conclude the validity of the theory. Thus, this is an example of theory testing approach. In contrast to theory testing, theory building can be depicted as follows. Number of scholars extensively uses the Theory of Resource Based View in order to discuss venture growth. In fact, this growth variable is measured in terms of sales and employment growth of the venture. Recently, Gaylen et al., (2009) contributed another seminal paper adding Transaction Cost Economies Theory to predict when sales growth will be or will not be accompanied by employment growth. These two explanations (Resource Based View Theory and Transaction Cost Economies Theory) depict an original research gap which eventually leads to theory extension, (I.e. Theory Building). Simply put there is a research gap to amalgamate Resource Based View Theory and Transaction Cost Economies Theory together. Thus, this is an example of theory building approach. In these grounds a word about Action Research would beneficial. This is because, commerce and management students, when they become graduated they opt to work in managerial positions. They turn out to be problem solvers in companies. Given that, Action research can be defined as an approach where a reflective process of progressive problem solving led by individuals working with others in teams or part of a community of practice to improve the way they address issues and solve problems. This is also called as participatory action research. A person who builds new knowledge is known as a scholar. What they are doing is, they attempt to enrich or adjust the existing understanding of a phenomenon (i.e. they extend or test theory). Simply stated they update the knowledge. Thereby, above mentioned problem of applicability can be eliminated. Research Gap and the Research Problem A well defined and a structured research problem is the heart of the research project. Vague research problem is the weakest point in your research. When you submitting your research proposal for a proposal presentation or grant applications, the evaluators might ask, your what you trying to investigate? You should be in a position of convincing your research problem to examiners. Then how you build your research problem properly? Uyangoda (2011) propose puzzling is useful to build your research problem. Let’s take the example of Safe Driving Habits in Sri Lanka. This is because, some drivers consume liquor before driving, they don’t know how to park even though a separate parking slot has been given, they use to throw trash out of the car window, some do not obey driving rules, traffic lights etc. Eventually, unsafe driving habits increase auto-accidents. This is a very good example of a research puzzle. Having a puzzle you can simply convert the scenario into a research problem. Solving this kind of a puzzle will inevitably add value, and perhaps most notably it will provide a national importance as well. Next, I will details my observations on how to formulate a research problem by forming a research gap. First, the researcher should have to have a “Practical Problem” and a “Contradiction in Literature”. Practical problem is more or less equal to the research puzzle which Uyangoda mentioned. In contrast, the contradiction in literature is a phenomenon which needs a scholarly inquiry. When you step in to draft your research proposal, it is indispensable to read literature. Then you will come to know, there are some areas that have been researched numerously and there are some areas that do lack in research. Further, you will come to know, some scholars in refereed journals they offer hunches for study further. Those hunches will provide an intention to the researcher to formulate his research gap and research problem. Following direct quote is such an example; “Current global economic crisis seems to be especially hard for large companies. Therefore, SMEs are facing strong expectations for their role to be key players when economies will be recovering from the present global recession. Previous research has also widely investigated the firms’ characteristics creating profitability. However, the results obtained are inconclusive or even contradictory. Consequently, many researchers have concluded that more research is needed in that area” (Soininen et al., 2012, p. 614) Above example states results obtained are inconclusive or even contradictory with regard to the characteristics creating profitability in SMEs. Simply stated, this is an implied gap to the researcher. That is because if there is a contradiction in literature, there is a prerequisite of further investigation. Reading more and more in this area would eventually reach to a research problem which also requires a scholarly inquiry. Another direct quote, which implies further investigation, can be depicted as follows; In recent years there has been an increased focus on the relationship between firm’s strategic orientation and firm performance (Madsen, 2007). Prior studies have generally found a positive relationship between Entrepreneurial Orientation (EO) and firm performance (Jantunen et al., 2005; Wiklund and Shepherd, 2005; Madsen, 2007). However, there are also studies where such a relationship has not been found (Smart and Conant, 1994). One reason might be that the measure that has been used to assess the firm performance has typically been a combination of both profitability and growth measures (Covinand Slevin, 1989; Wiklund, 1999; Avlonitis and Salavou, 2007). Above example once more confirms the prerequisite of further investigation because results are contradictory (I.e. positive relationships and no relationships). This is an implied gap stated differently. Likewise, having a complete set of literature the researcher can simply form a gap. Having contradiction in literature the researcher will also form a research problem where How Entrepreneurial Orientation (EO) affects firm performance? Whether EO affects positively or negatively? The researcher intends to investigate this because results between EO and firm performance are inconclusive in nature. When he concludes his study he may also state there is a positive, negative or no relationship between EO and firm performance. Whatever the result he gets, it adds new knowledge to the existing literature. Likewise, within foreseeable future scholars may also confirm that there is a positive, negative or no relationship between EO and firm performance. In that state, the research gap fills. No scholarly inquiry is required. Having a positive, negative or no relationship a new theory can be built. Let’s say, there is a positive relationship between Entrepreneurial Orientation and Firm Performance. Above elaborations state two approaches to formulate your research gap and the problem. So once more I’m keen on stating that a good and a researchable research problem is the key to success in a research project. Works Cited Barney, J., 1991. Firm Resources and Sustained Competitive Advantage. Journal of Management, 17(1), pp.99-120. Gaylen, C.N., McKelvie, A. & Davidsson, P., 2009. Asset specificity and behavioral uncertainty as moderators of the sales growth - Employment growth relationship in emerging ventures. Journal of Business Venturing, 24, pp.373-87. Soininen, J., Martikainen, M., Puumalainen, K. & Kylaheiko, K., 2012. Entrepreneurial Orientation: Growth and Profitability of Finnish small-and medium-sized enterprises. International Journal of Production Economics, 140, pp.614-21. Uyangoda, J., 2011. Writing Research Proposals in the Social Sciences and Humanities: A theoretical and practical guide. Colombo: Social Scientists's Association. 1. Introduction In the contemporary field of Commerce and Management, stereotyped knowledge is no longer a valid one. In general, the present scenario of the Commerce and Management field is dominated by few popular study areas among students in Sri Lanka. In general, the majority of the students populate in Sri Lanka holds an idea of being an accountant or a finance manager is the sole and the ultimate goal that they would achieve in their life. Given that, the author strives to postulate that Accounting and Finance are not the sole study areas that a student can pursue in future. Moreover, the author signifies that, areas like, Business Technology, Entrepreneurship, Value Based Marketing, Green Accounting, Personal Management, etc are the apparent and dominant future study areas in the field of Commerce and Management. Providing the existing state of the perception of students in Sri Lanka, the author intends to write pertaining to the field of Entrepreneurship due to the sole motive and enthusiasm of the study area that he have on himself. The author believes that, in order to excavate the fascinating field of entrepreneurship, the reader and the students should know what entrepreneurship is? The author intends to talk about to this phenomenon due to the lack of common understanding (Davidsson, 2004) of what precisely Entrepreneurship is? And who is an Entrepreneur? This paper structured as follows: Section two; what entrepreneurship is? defines some general as well as empirical justifications pertaining to the concept. The author offers a blend approach of general and empirical grounds to emphasize facts more concisely and precisely. The section three; who is an entrepreneur? follows the same approach as above. Finally, the concluding section details author’s justifications on the entrepreneurship and the entrepreneur satisfying the prime objective of the article. 2. What Entrepreneurship is? At the outset, the writer strives to emphasize that, student populate in Sri Lanka holds an idea, that studying entrepreneurship is for all time for the sake of starting a business venture. The author’s view on this regard is, though definitions of entrepreneurship signifies the business initiation, this is mere a misconception. This is fairly apparent due to the lack of understanding of what Intrapreneurship is. Simply stated, the notion of Intrapreneurship is about practicing entrepreneurial activities in established companies. An intrapreneur could be a company or a single person or a group constituting entrepreneurial activities. Thus, this notion offers an insight to students that, studying entrepreneurship gives a vast knowledge about revitalizing creativity and innovative practices even in established companies. Moving from general facts to practical illustrations, the author intends to picture about the fascination of true entrepreneurship. A small business venture started way back in 1958 Dan and Franck Carney in their hometown of Wichita, Kansas. The business initiation was funded from a borrowed $800 from their mother. They were to put up a small Pizza parlour. Eventually, the small Pizza parlour proliferated to a destination like a world renowned brand. That is, Pizza Hut. Besides, starting a small computer manufacturing company in their own home garage would probably a confusing idea to others. But Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne, started their manufacturing plant at their home garage and ultimately became a benchmarking company in the computer industry, which is we all know, the Apple Inc. Not only that, as we Sri Lankans we are proud to say that, Sri Lankan blood also enriched with entrepreneurial spirit. Great entrepreneurs like, Meril J. Fernando (the founder of the Dilmah tea), Otara Gunewardene (the founder of the ODEL), possess the entrepreneurial spirit and they became success in the business would. 2.1. Definitions of Entrepreneurship Besides, with reference to the prominent figures in the field of Entrepreneurship, following concise definitions can be elaborated. Davidsson, (2004) suggests the phenomenon of entreprneurship really consists of new entry, The creation of new entreprise, (Lumpkin & Dess, 1996) The creation of new organizations, (Low & MacMillan, 1988) A purposeful activity to initiate, maintain and aggrandize a profit oriented business, (Gartner, 1988) The process of creating something different with the value by devoting the necessary time and effort; assuming the accompanying financial, psychological, and social risks, and receiving the resulting rewards of monetary and personal satisfaction, (Hisrisch & Peters, 1989) Moreover, the concept was once more confirmed by, Hisrich, Peters, & Shepherd, (2007), write, “Entrepreneurship is creating something new with value by devoting the necessary time and effort, assuming the accompanying financial, psychic, and social risks, and receiving the resulting rewards of monetary and personal satisfaction and independence”. (p.8) Adding to that, a significant definition was given by Shane & Venkataraman, (2000), write, “Entrepreneurship as the scholarly examination of how, by whom, and with what effects opportunities to create future goods and services are discovered, evaluated, and exploited”. (p.218) Cole, cited in Mohanty, (2005), has defined entrepreneurship as the purposeful activity of an individual or a group of associated individuals undertake to initiate, maintain, or earn profit by production and distribution of economic goods and services. Whereas, Heggins cited in Mohanty, (2005), entrepreneurship is meant the function of seeking investment and production opportunity, organizing an enterprise to undertake a new production process, raising capital, hiring labor, arranging the supply of raw materials and selecting top managers of day-to-day operations. Schempeter cited in Mohanty, (2005), giving an important definition on entrepreneurship. He suggests that, entrepreneurship is essentially a creative activity. It consists of doing such things as are generally not done in ordinary course of business. An entrepreneur is one who innovates, i.e. carries out new combination or enterprise. Further, McCellend cited in Mohanty, (2005) writes achievement motivation as the most critical factor for the growth of entrepreneurship. Besides, Drucker cited in Mohanty, (2005) affirms entrepreneurship is neither a science nor an art. It is a practice. It has a knowledge base. Knowledge in entrepreneurship is a means to an end. Indeed, what constitutes knowledge is a practice is largely defined by the end that is by the practice. Entrepreneurship is not just about making money. It is about imagination, flexibility, creativity, willingness to think conceptually, readiness to take risks, ability to mobilize agents of production and the capacity to see change as an opportunity. It is also about marrying passion and process with a good dose of perseverance. 3. Who is an Entrepreneur? Simply stated, entrepreneur is a person who undertakes all the risks associated in a new enterprise. English Oxford Dictionary defined entrepreneur as one who undertakes an enterprise. Especially, a contractor-acting as an intermediary between labor and capital for production is an entrepreneur. Generally, an entrepreneur is a person who starts an enterprise. He searches for change and responds to it. A number of definitions have been given of an entrepreneur- The economists view him as a fourth factor of production along with land labour and capital. The sociologists feel that certain communities and cultures promote entrepreneurship like for example in India we say that Gujaratis and Sindhis are very enterprising. Still others feel that entrepreneurs are innovators who come up with new ideas for products, markets or techniques. To put it very simply an entrepreneur is someone who perceives opportunity, organizes resources needed for exploiting that opportunity and exploits it. Computers, mobile phones, washing machines, ATMs, Credit Cards, Courier Service, and Ready to eat Foods are all examples of entrepreneurial ideas that got converted into products or services. 1725: Richard Cantillon: An entrepreneur is a person who pays a certain price for a product to resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making decisions about obtaining and using the resources while consequently admitting the risk of enterprise. 1803: J.B. Say: An entrepreneur is an economic agent who unites all means of production- land of one, the labor of another and the capital of yet another and thus produces a product. By selling the product in the market he pays rent of land, wages to labor, and interest on capital and what remains is his profit. He shifts economic resources out of an area of lower and into an area of higher productivity and greater yield. 1934: Schumpeter: According to him entrepreneurs are innovators who use a process of shattering the status quo of the existing products and services, to set up new products, new services. 1961: David McClleland: An entrepreneur is a person with a high need for achievement. He is energetic and a moderate risk taker. 1964: Peter Drucker: An entrepreneur searches for change, responds to it and exploits opportunities. Innovation is a specific tool of an entrepreneur hence an effective entrepreneur converts a source into a resource. 1971: Kilby: Emphasizes the role of an imitator entrepreneur who does not innovate but imitates technologies innovated by others. 1975: Albert Shapero: Entrepreneurs take initiative, accept risk of failure and have an internal locus of control. 1983: G. Pinchot: Intrapreneur is an entrepreneur within an already established organization. 4. Discussion After completing your A/Ls or the graduation you will be standing at the crossroads of life. Simply put, you will face the dilemma of choosing what you have to do in life. The vast majority of human beings direct their activities towards earning a living, generating wealth and improving their standard of living. You can choose your career from two broad categories of options – Wage Employment or Entrepreneurship. The author signifies here that students should hold the perception that the prime objective of studying entrepreneurship is not ended up with creation of a business venture. Put it simply, we know for fact that all famous business examples available are for all time defines and creates a picture of starting a business venture. But the author claims that, being an Intrapreneur will also add more value to your dream of becoming an entrepreneur. Thus, to conclude the discussion and satisfying the objective of this paper and considering all empirical investigations detailed above, every author offer and define entrepreneurship and the notion of entrepreneur differently. Thus the author offers a synthesis where, Entrepreneurship is an identification of an exploitable market opportunity[1] which eventually leads to a creation of a lucrative enterprise or an action leads to expand a current enterprise[2]. Besides, the author offers a synthesis where, The Entrepreneur is an individual or a group[3] intends to utilize the exploitable market opportunity[4]. [1] Author uses the word exploitable market opportunity to signify the feasibility of the business opportunity. Further, identified market opportunity will no longer make profits unless it has a feasibility to execute. Moreover, it is indispensable to perceive the market opportunity in a creative and an innovative manner. [2] Author adds the concept of a current enterprise due to lack of common understanding of the notion of Intrapreneurship among Sri Lankan students. [3] Importantly, individual or a group could be a person who intends to start a new business, or an individual or a group in an existing enterprise. [4] In the definition of exploitable market opportunity, the entrepreneur should inevitably possess the characteristics or risk taking, innovator, perseverance behaviors. References Davidsson, P., 2004. Researching Entrepreneurship. United States of America: Springer Science and Business Media. Gartner, W.B., 1988. "Who is an Entrepreneur" is the wrong question. American Small Business Journal, (Spring), pp.11-31. Hisrich, R.D., Peters, M.P. & Shepherd, D.A., 2007. Entrepreneurship. 6th ed. Tata McGraw-Hill Publishing Company Limited. Hisrisch, R.D. & Peters, M.P., 1989. Entrepreneurship. Starting, Developing and Managing a New Enterprise. Homewood, IL: Irwin. Kuratko, D.F. & Hodgetts, R.M., 2007. Entrepreneurship: Theory, Process, Practice. 7th ed. Thomson Learning Inc. Low, M.B. & MacMillan, I.C., 1988. Entrepreneurship: Past research and future challenges. Journal of Management, 14, pp.139-61. Lumpkin, G.T. & Dess, G.G., 1996. Clarifying the entrepreneurial orientation construct and linking it to performance. Academy of Management Review, 21(1), pp.135-72. Mohanty, S.K., 2005. Fundamentals of Entrepreneurship. Prentice-Hall India Private Limited. Shane, S. & Venkataraman, S., 2000. The Promise of Entrepreneurship as a Field of Research. Academy of Management Review, 25(1), pp.217-26. A famous quote from Dalai Lama, says, Sometimes one creates a dynamic impression by saying something, and sometimes one creates as significant an impression by remain silent. This inception was led me to flow my fingertips on the keyboard. It is a generally accepted fact that the world can be divided into two kinds of people; that is, those who give voice to every thought, and those who are naturally quite. Also, we have noticed that, generally, people tend to accept the former and be anxious about the latter. When you reading this small note, you may come to know, what is the category that I do falling to, and you may possibly assess pros and cons of each category, and may ended up with a particular judgment. The author’s view in this regard is, the judgment on this is a subjective phenomenon. The perceived inapproachability is one of the apparent disadvantages of being reserved. Besides, people likely to confide in quite people since they are always good listeners. Adding to that, most people tend to think that those who don’t talk are silent. In fact, they used to label them as ‘still persons’. But the author’s view on this regard is this is not true all the time. Perhaps most notably, during my tiny life experiences I have noticed that many would judge people in accordance to what they see and hear on how expressive or louder a person is. I have seen people use to say silent to define people as ease and it is seldom among people’s belief that there is loudness within though silent. Some believe that, it’s dangerous when people are outgoing and loud, those people will usually trust anyone they meet and that can be fatal if he/she ends up mixing with the bad crowd. Opposing to this fact, a group of psychologists from two universities in the United States have found that people who classified themselves as happy were also more talkative and loud that their unhappy counterparts and the conversation had more substance. Given that, it has been empirically verified that, women really more talkative and loud than men. Finally, moving to my own experiences, I have a very good friend of mine, she is humorous when she is loud, and people tell her to be quite. But when she is quite, people ask her what is wrong….. Literary, entrepreneur is a person who set up businesses and business deals. Besides, British believe Asian entrepreneurs are solely running small businesses, generally, as shopkeepers, (Basu & Goswami, 1999). But the author’s view on this regard is the potential of transforming Asian SMEs into large scale profitable businesses is at a considerable stage. As a developing country, the number of nonurban population when compared to the urban population is substantially high. Specifically, nonurban population consists of more than 75% of the total population in Sri Lanka. Thus, this scenario implies the importance of constituting small scale businesses in nonurban areas. Further, it is important to recognize the importance of encouraging entrepreneurs in nonurban areas of Sri Lanka to contribute to the national economic growth and to obtain its share of the benefits. Though the author is recognizing the importance of constituting entrepreneurial initiatives, numbers of barriers also exist. For example, the difficulty of obtaining funds to business initiatives. This fact is evident from a very successful online shopping portal, anything.lk, is funded from a foreign bank not by Sri Lankan. Moreover, many countries have identified the importance of utilizing facilities such as PayPal payment modes. But my opinion is none of the banks have initiatives to such technologies. A good example at present is Extreme-seo.net, which was started by a small entrepreneur in Vavuniya district working around 60 employees at his search engine. Besides, a 19 year old school boy, Maleen, from Maliyadewa College Kurunegala, came up with a very challenging idea to predict weather conditions. His project was to forecast weather using planetary angles. Obviously, the idea was challenged to weather forecasts given by the Department of Meteorology. So, given all the facts above the author trying to suggest that inventions & innovations happen in Sri Lanka and absolutely it requires a certain support to proliferate entrepreneur’s business ideas from authoritative bodies. Apart from that, recently proposed budget for 2013 depicts number of alternations to direct & indirect taxes to SMEs. Under the section of concessionary rate of income tax, any manufacturing and service undertaking with an annual turnover threshold not exceeding Rs.300 Mn. is considered a SME and entitled to a concessionary tax rate of 10%. It is proposed to increase this turnover threshold to Rs. 500 Mn. Particularly this proposal provides opportunity to incentivize to grow their businesses to formidable entities. Currently, a company with a turnover in excess of Rs. 300 Mn. is liable to tax at 28%. Further, exceptions from VAT[1] and NBT[2] provided to any person or a partnership with an annual liable turnover not exceeding Rs.12 Mn. Almost certainly, this will reduce tax compliance obligations on SMEs. Finally income tax holidays also provided up to 5 years varying the nature of the industry. Obviously, the budget proposals of 2013 provide number of opportunities to SMEs in Sri Lanka. As I mentioned above, Sri Lanka has talented young entrepreneurs with novel ideas that aren’t developed into full potential, but with a bit support, primarily in terms of financing, they could monetize their ideas and reach the nooks and corners of the world, (Kanagaisingam, 2012). [1] Value Added Tax [2] Nation Building Tax References Works Cited Basu, A., & Goswami, A. (1999). South Asian entrepreneurship in Great Britain: factors influencing growth. International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behaviour & Research , 251 - 275. Kanagaisingam, R. (2012). Lankan Entreprenuer. Retrieved November 17, 2012 The notion or the concept of ‘Private Universities’ is merely an idea or simply a suggested solution that was raised as a remedy for assumed problems such as un-employability and the mismatch between graduate skills and employer expectations, (Dissanayake, 2012), etc in higher education in Sri Lanka. Though the public assumes that the establishment of private universities is a remedy for those so called problems, it is important to state that it is just a fallacy. The actual phenomenon of the establishment of private universities should be carefully analyzed and real circumstances should be observed carefully. Given that, this article intends to talk about supporting facts pertaining to the establishment of private universities and adverse impacts of it. Once more it is a misconception to believe that the concept of private universities is a common concept in the today’s world. But in general, the majority of Sri Lankans do not accept it. In fact, there is no any similarity between the institutions intended to be established under the premise of ‘private universities’ in Sri Lanka and the worldly accepted private universities. Besides, privatization enables consumers to consume high quality goods and services. The quality of the commodity is highly prioritized since the consumer will not make a purchase unless the commodity is with a considerable quality. But when it comes to government intervention there is no such direct connection or a responsibility towards the consumer. This basic principle has led to inefficiencies in government institutions and to lessen the quality of commodities produced by the government. Given that, the most interesting phenomenon in this regard is that the majority of Sri Lankans hold an assumption and they hold a high expectation towards private universities anticipating a high quality service just for the sake of the advantages of privatization. Further they tend to defend themselves by providing examples of privatized institutions which have benefited upon privatization, for example, institutions such as private hospitals and Sri Lanka Telecom etc. Given all the assumptions, examples and facts, people tend to raise a question. ‘If private hospitals have been benefited out of privatization why won’t we establish private universities?’ This is once more a real misconception among the public. I will elaborate on this in detail. Just imagine that you are searching for a private hospital. You would probably go to a place where you will be cured with highest treatments. Obviously you will not be concerned about expense that you will incur. Simply you would go for the best hospital and not for the cheapest. In this example the quality of the service comes first not the affordability. Given all the above examples, I would like to raise a question as to what a student may expect from a private university. More clearly the highest demand is not for the institution which provides you the high quality education, but for the institution which provides you education with a professional certificate with an affordable price. Once the minister of higher education, Mr. S.B. Dissanayake postulated that a proposed private university for Sri Lanka, Manipal University, offers medical degrees for Rs. 10 Million. Meanwhile, another private university which is situated in Malabe provides medical degrees for Rs. 6.5 Million. Besides, universities such as Harvard, Cambridge and Oxford are the world accepted universities for medical students. But what is actually happening among Sri Lankan students is that they are not able to enroll for the above mentioned world renowned universities. Most of the time, the majority of Sri Lankan students select countries such as Bangladesh, Philippines, Pakistan and China for their medical degree. If a student is solely concerned about the quality of a medical degree he would probably go for a world accepted university like Harvard. The same basic principle can also be applied to external university degrees as well. Unlike the other sectors in the economy, the perception of students towards the private education is not the quality but the affordability. In general, Australia and the Great Britain are considered as the major suppliers for higher education. As we already know, Sri Lankan education system was initiated by the Great Britain and however, still there are grassroots of British traditions within the system of education in our country. There is only one private university named University of Buckingham in Britain. Further there is only one private university college named BPP University College of Professional Studies in Britain. Given those facts, one can possibly identify that there are only two private universities for a country like Britain, (Wikipedia, 2012). Furthermore, Bond University of Australia and University of Notre Dame Australia are the only two private universities operating in Australia. As experimentation, Melbourne University was initiated in 1998 but however it was bankrupt in 2005. At a glance one may identify that there are two private universities in Singapore. Obviously Singapore Management University and SIM Universities are operating under the ownership of the government. And in fact, Singapore Management University is directly funded by the government, (Wikipedia, 2012). According to the official website (University-Canada.net) it can be postulated that there are no single private universities established in Canada. But some websites describe that there are private universities existing in Canada but careful examinations revealed that those are merely small university colleges and the majority operate in Christian churches. Obviously when we are discussing the notion of private universities, more concern should be given to the nature, not for numerical figures as to the number of universities in a country. In fact, the notion of private university is not a famous concept in the world. But there are countries which have a number of institutions, for example, United States of America. Adding to that the majority of Sri Lankans have given more preference towards the concept of private universities just because of the quality and the reputation which has been acquired by American universities. In general, majority of Sri Lankans state that if we have universities such as Harvard, Princeton etc, in Sri Lanka we also could possibly benefit from those universities, (Nawarathne, 2010). But the reality is these so called private universities are not of the type or the nature of universities that entrepreneurs anticipate to build for Sri Lankan students. Merely, the private sector’s intention of building private universities is to obtain a maximum profit. It’s the basic premise for an entrepreneur who builds a sole business, or a hospital hoping for a maximum return. To be more justified I can state that, private universities in America operate under the principle of nonprofit organizations. This means surplus profit is not distributed among the owners of the institution, it is allocated only for the wellbeing of the institution itself. I’m keen on elaborating a fact that the establishment of private universities causes the society to be segregated into two distinct groups. Further this creation of two groups leads to a scenario of plutocracy, not the meritocracy among people resulting in inequality in a democratic country like Sri Lanka. Obviously, there is no need of creating a culture where people are considered as ‘posh’ in Sri Lanka. Anyhow the policy of higher education in Sri Lanka should be to match the graduate requirement from the state universities in Sri Lanka. In my opinion, then only the prerequisite of quality in higher education can be ensured. Finally, I’m eager to affirm that, in general, some people might be able to state that, state universities operate under low infrastructure conditions. I would like to defeat this fact with a small comparative assessment allowing the community to identify the reality. For example, Colombo Royal Institute offers degrees in diverse areas like Management, Art and Law. Added to that, according to their official website, their library consists of ten thousand study materials. But when it comes to state universities like Peradeniya and Colombo the pertaining figure exceeds four hundred thousand. Given all above facts and examples, it is important to state that I’m not in a position to reject the concept of private universities. What I want to elaborate is that the universities that are being established under the premise of ‘private universities’ in Sri Lanka cannot be categorized under the real meaning of private universities. Those are merely synonymous to a sole business which anticipates gaining a maximum profit. Moreover, there is a need for identifying the factors to create quality private universities that are actually lacking in Sri Lanka. So finally, what I want to affirm is the need to fulfill the graduate requirement and to enhance the quality of higher education by producing competent graduates through Sri Lankan state universities to ensure a flourishing future for the youth. References Dissanayake, S. (2012, September 23). [Web log message]. Retrieved from http://srilankatalkforum.weebly.com/1/post/2012/09/matching-employer-needs-an-obligation-of-state-universities-and-students-in-sri-lanka.html Wikipedia. (2012, October 04). Universities in the United Kingdom. Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universities_in_the_United_Kingdom Wikipedia. (2012, September 24). Singapore Management University. Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Singapore_Management_University නවරත්න. එච්. එම්. (2010.11.28), "අරිස්ටෝටල්ලාට ඉගෙන්වීමට යාම", රාවය. Ever since I was little, I have always looked at peoples positive attributes. Almost every mankind, no matter how outwardly atrocious, has a decent side as well. My subconscious mind says this comes with a deeply rooted norm that my parents persuaded me in all my life. I don’t judge people on their past behaviors and I judge people on the impression that I personally obtain from them. My strong believe is every mankind on this earth is special. Everyone is unique in some way which makes them special. It is rational to believe that uniqueness is a fundamental low applied to the every cosmos big and small. The personality, in looks and character is not identical to each mankind. I believe it is this uniqueness that every person possesses which make them special eventually. This gives me to accept everyone as special with sympathy in the face of hostility and to treat every person with respect regardless of the position in the society. In each and every day I search for gifts to find my esteem which makes me a better person. Simply it could be a smile to a stranger who comes towards me. Those little things add values to life to be glad. During my small career I have observed the same thing performed differently by different people dissimilar effects and results. I often fail in some efforts in my routine and each failure is a lesson a rest to try harder. Personally I have benchmarks; those are merely for me to follow. Not to copy though. I am keyed up towards understanding in my own uniqueness. Elbert Einstein once stated,”Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that is stupid”. I believe everyone have potential or attribute(s) to be a genius. The most important thing is you should have to have the ability to grow the genius within you. Many of us including me go along the wrong root at first much like the poor fish. And when we don’t succeed, we feel, depressed, dim or feeble. Personally I do not have much experience on educating someone about life. But I firmly believe what Albert Einstein said, everybody is a genius and everyone is special. No matter what he is doing in your society, could be a laborer or the chancellor of a university. They all are creation of the cosmos. Be it just to smile more often even to a stranger, to pick up a piece of trash, treat people equally regardless of the positions. Introduction The current turbulent and dynamic business environment has given greater emphasis at present to business initiatives and innovations. Businesses pursue constant innovations, since they are keen on positioning their value propositions lucratively among their target audience. Thus, they seek graduates and professional qualification holders from the job market. However, it is evident from job advertisements in the newspapers that the corporate sector is keen on recruiting professional jobholders compared to graduates, (Weligamage, 2009). There is a common misconception that the graduates lack professional qualifications. This misconception leads to the discrimination of university students where professional qualification holders have an edge over the graduate. This view foregrounds two issues: the perception of the corporate sector of the graduate and what graduate really lack. At present, all fifteen state universities in Sri Lanka produce competent graduates. In the year of 2010, university admissions were totaled as 21,547 and the graduate output was totaled as 20,357. The author’s view is that, the employers and the community at large would not doubt the knowledge of undergraduates. In general, we commonly accept that the quality of higher education in Sri Lanka has reached to a satisfactory level. But the reader would probably question me about the disputes that have occurred pertaining to higher education. Though the administration is apparently feeble, the students possess enough knowledge. The graduate output level proves that big numbers graduate and conceptually all graduate courses are equal. So conceptually one could argue that all graduates are equally skilled or competent. Employability of Graduates at Present Several dimensions can be addressed pertaining to the current employability of graduates in local universities in Sri Lanka. In general, lack of professional orientation is one of the major problems relating to students in social sciences. Generally, Medicine, Engineering, Law, Agriculture, Science and Management faculties guide their students towards properly defined objectives of professions. For an example, degree programs in commerce and management faculties such as Commerce, Finance, Accountancy, Human Resource Management, Business Administration, Marketing etc. are having national as well as international links. Those links assist students to develop their future career plans. It has been empirically verified that, to a greater extent, unemployment rate is high among Arts graduates when compared to Commerce and Management graduates. This comparison foregrounds that the occupational expectation of graduates of Humanities and Social Sciences has become an issue. “People become unemployed because of unemployment mismatch” (Vidanapathirana, 2001). However, employers consider candidate’s skills when they are recruited for a job. The University of Sydney (1997) elaborates some of the commonly accepted skills for a job seeker. Some of them are knowledge skills, thinking skills, personal skills, personal attributes, and practical skills. Under knowledge skills, application of theory into practice, body of knowledge in the field of study, organizing and communicating skills in oral and written English, research skills and the use of appropriate technologies are addressed. Under the category of thinking skills, the ability to exercise critical judgment, ability of thinking, ability of self evaluation and the ability of imaginative thinking are discussed. Personal thinking is discussed under the subsections of commitment, planning, and goal achievement, and the ability of working with others. Under personal attributes, striving for tolerance and integrity, and ethical behavior are discussed. Finally, practical skills are discussed under the sub sections of the ability to use information technology, report writing, testing hypothesis, and technical skills. Employer’s requirements from a graduate I conducted interviews with some of the top ranking business figures in Sri Lanka to have an in-depth knowledge. This is an extract form an interview I had with a leading marketing professional in Sri Lanka, “We are disappointed with the ones we have. Most cannot speak English and they are conceited. They are also not hard working and quite set in their own ways. University ‘striking’ lecturers on the other hand are a disgrace to this country – they learn from tax payer’s money and let down the students who are the fabric of this nation. Now the students also get indoctrinated with such type of actions” In a nutshell, they were elaborate of the fact that the current graduates lack English competency, communication and presentation skills. I believe those facts, though the graduates possess enough subject knowledge, he/she should be in a position of communicating when they become employed. We know for a fact that English has become one of the commonly used languages in the world. The economic dependency of Sri Lanka to developed countries and international institutions can be identified as one of the major factors that would prevent the usage of mother language. In addition to that, some may perceive that the prevention of economic dependency is the ideal solution for the existing crisis, but it is a long term objective of our nation. Attitudes of the Sri Lankan Graduates Empirical verifications affirm that, apart from the problems of the education system, attitudes of graduates also affect on the employment problem in Sri Lanka. Ministry of education and higher education states, according to the Presidential Committee appointed to identify problems of the university system affirmed three main reasons for the graduate unemployment problem. They are lack of communication skills, lack of English competency and negative attitudes. In general, graduates expect government and pensionable jobs and most specifically high salary from the beginning. However, commerce and management faculties in Universities intend to produce graduates for the private sector. This is due to the professional orientation of the commerce and management students. Moreover, it is a commonly accepted fact that as far as the position and the reputation is concerned, finding a job will be a big problem. The society in Sri Lanka also generally expects that graduates must have reputable occupations from the beginning. Such attitudes and values discourage graduates to start a job at a lower level. We know for a fact that Sri Lanka is an agricultural country. But in general students lack the engagement of indigenous sectors such as agro-based and self-employed occupations in Sri Lanka. But however numbers of scholars affirm to produce entrepreneurs and managers to enhance the economic development in Sri Lanka. Quality of Degree Programs in Sri Lanka In order to ensure the quality and relevancy of degree programs, it is compulsory for all higher education programs to be judged by Quality Assurance Subject Reviewers appointed by the Quality Assurance Council of Sri Lanka. This quality assurance is done mainly due to the graduate employability issue in Sri Lanka. But however, the Quality Assurance Council reveals that the government departments/universities are weak in six aspects, namely, “Curriculum Design, Content and Review”, “Extend and Use of Student Feedback”, “Postgraduate Studies”, “Peer Observation”, “Skills Development’, and “Academic Guidance and Counselling”, (Ariyawansa, 2008). Perhaps most notably, scholars in Sri Lanka argue that degree programs in Social Science and Humanities are poor in quality and relevancy, (Ariyawansa, 2008). What is actually happening in Universities? Universities offer degrees specialized in diverse areas. Irrespective of the stream considered, in most universities students are allowed to attempt papers in their mother tongue during their first and the second years. Nonetheless, some students attempting their exam papers in their mother tongue not only in first two years, but also during the entire university career. In the perspective of psychology, it is stated that first attempt may possibly leads to the second attempt and the second attempt may probably leads from the conclusions derived from the first attempt. This basic premise can also be applied to university students. A student who has weak English knowledge will possibly attempt his exam papers in his/her mother tongue just for the sake of passing the exam. And the second attempt will also follow the consequences resulted from the first attempt resulting to attempt the second semester exam with his/her mother tongue and eventually during his/her entire university career. They do not believe that the university education is much more than coming out with a Bachelors or a Masters degree. What are the main expectations of university education? Ariyawansa (2008), states that, education should aim at developing all aspects of human life as an essential task. As the term implies, ‘the University’ is the place where students gather universal subject as well as the practical knowledge. Some may perceive that learning English will possibly compromise the priority given to one’s mother tongue. Personally I believe that this perception is a political ideology that this country has been affected with since the time of the independence. It is well-known facts that, the majority of students in the local university system are from the Colombo district, although a considerable proportion is being attracted from other districts as well. Students from non-urban areas low with the competency of English and there are numerous ways and means to improve the levels of English proficiency among them. It is reported that, there is a severe shortage of English teachers among rural government schools. As a result students from non-urban areas do not pay much attention to the English language and the majority has given up learning English as a subject. As of 2011, 41.41 percent of pass rates were depicted for English language in ordinary level examinations. This is somewhat an improved figure when compared to 2009 and 2010. Though the government initiates a number of policies and procedures to enhance the level of English language among students, it is a pity to state that approximately 95 percent of students from remote areas do not adequately possess the English language proficiency. When it comes to private university students, we know for a fact that they are from affluent social classes and they hold different attitudes and perceptions when compared to local university students. Comparatively, they hold enough financial capability and obviously they have a sound English knowledge. They know how to communicate with others and they possess soft skills when compared to a local university student. Obviously that is what the business sector is looking for when it comes to a recruitment of a job candidate. Nonetheless, their performance at exams and passion for learning are questionable. Suggested Remedies Universities hold students societies, intended to enhance student’s English fluency. Besides, English Language Teaching Units (ELTUs) provide immense support to students to enhance their English fluency. Personally I believe that the infrastructures in universities are sufficient to provide the maximum input. As I mentioned above, majority of the universities do allow students to attempt their exam papers in their mother tongue. This approach has been implemented because students take time to adapt to write in English. But what is actually happening is the majority of the students are attempting their papers in their mother tongue during their entire university life. If so how they can possibly improve their language fluency? I know for a fact that, merely attempting an exam paper will not possibly lead to enhance English competency, but in a way it supports students to explore further. I believe that the lecturers hold an obligation to persuade students to write in English while communicating the importance of it. On the other hand, I have come to know that most students lack soft skills. Moreover, the author believes that the negative attitudes of local university students have to be removed. As a whole, university students are conceited. They believe in their own things and vested interests in their minds have become rigid in different aspects. When it comes to private university students, they are really flexible and sociable. The way they dress, speak in front of a crowd, and presentations are some of the valuable attributes that they hold. Wickramarachchi’s (2008) study affirms that the conversion of the mode of delivering lectures into English in Management streams has shown a progress of employability in Sri Lanka. But my personal observation is, though lectures are delivered in English medium, the majority of students tend to attempt their exam papers in their mother tongue. Conclusion Graduates are highly valuable human resource for a country. But in general they have to wait for a long time for suitable jobs. Specially, the unemployment problem is high among humanities and social science and some management graduates, (Ariyawansa, 2008). IT skills and English Proficiency are essential elements of determinants of employability. Besides, communication skills are the mostly expected skills in selecting a graduate for a job, and most importantly, the English competency is highly concerned when selecting a graduate for a private sector job in Sri Lanka, Ariyawansa (2008). The author believes that the acquisition of basic IT skills and English competency should not be a responsibility of Universities in Sri Lanka. Such skills should be developed from school levels. During my small academic career I have met qualified people who are enjoying their lives economical success. Some of them did not possess a sound with English background when they started their university life. But their strong determination and the commitment have led to high results and to achieve a successful life. References Ariyawansa, R. G. (2008). Employability of Graduates of Sri Lankan Universities. Sri Lankan Journal of Human Resource Management, 02(01), 91-104. Generic Attributes of Graduates of the University of Sydney (1997) Available online: http://www.policy.rms.usyd.edu.au [Downloaded: September 13, 2012] Vidanapathirana,U.(2000).Employability and expectations of university students: A cross faculty comparison of the attributes of university students, Sri Lanka Association for the advancement of Science (SLAAS), Proceeding of the 56th Annual Session,27th Nov-1st Dec, Colombo, Sri Lanka,p.281 Vidanapathirana,U.(2001).Unemployment Mismatch-Iceberg? Or Volcano?, Association for the advancement of Science (SLAAS), Proceeding of the 57th Annual Session,26th Nov-1st Dec, Colombo, Sri Lanka,p.131-143 Weligamage, S.S. (2009). Graduates‟ Employability Skills: Evidence from Literature Review. Sub Theme A - Enhancing Employability through Quality Assurance - ASAIHL 2009, University of Kelaniya. 115-125 Wickramarachchi M. W. (2008), Employability of Management Graduates, Convocation Address, 35th Convocation of the University of Sri Jayewardenepura, University of Sri Jayewardenepura, Colombo. |
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August 2015
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