"Why is it so difficult for graduates to get jobs when there is a brain drain in the country? Why should they be the ones protesting, sitting on the streets trying to make the government find employment for them. It must be very disappointing and demoralising for them not to be able to find jobs after studying hard to secure seats in universities, which are limited, and then going through financial difficulties to complete their education, as the majority often do as they are from poor families from rural areas."

This was how David Griffiths, CEO HSBC Sri Lanka and Maldives, articulated the failure of our higher education system and the injustice our society continues to commit.

He spoke at a workshop conducted by the Institute for Enterprise of Leeds Metropolitan University UK, The British Council, The Council for Business with Britain (an affiliation of Ceylon Chamber of Commerce) and the Ministry of Higher Education which brought together the academic and business community to find out ways to make the elusive employable graduate a reality.

The workshop "Creating Graduate Excellence—Enterprising Graduates: routes to employability" was a fact finding mission about what the business community expected from graduates.

Around 35 delegates representing the Apparel, Architecture, BPO/ICT, Education, Finance, Leisure, Human Resources and Services Sectors participated. Half of them represented the Education sector from several local universities.

Studying the problem is the first step to solving the problem and that was what this workshop firstly intended to bring about. The dissemination of views, ideas and opinions of the delegates will be compiled into a detailed report commissioned by the Leeds Metropolitan University.

The delegates demonstrated a tendency to agree or strongly agree on the following points;

* Skills that will make graduates employable should be an outcome of higher education.

* Students are not fully ‘work ready’ soon after graduation.

* Students need to understand the ‘real world’ of the world of work.

* Universities and businesses can work closer to support students in all subjects/disciplines which will make them employable.

It was agreed that students needed to demonstrate a desire to change, be enterprising and have a sense of responsibility to the country.

The academia asked the business community to provide opportunities for internships so that local graduates will be ‘work ready’ when their degrees are completed. Funding want hurt either. While it was acknowledged that various corporate organisations are funding students and faculties, there was a lack of awareness which, according to Prof. Lakshman Dissanayake, Dean, Faculty of Graduate Studies, University of Colombo, has led to the notion that the academia and the business community continue to work in isolation.

Prof. Lakshman Ratnayake, Project Director, Improving Relevance and Quality of Undergraduate Education Project, Ministry of Higher Education said that University resources are stretched thin.

"In the ‘50s and ‘60s, the government spent four percent of GDP on education. Today its two percent with only 0.4 percent of GDP spent on higher education. When ever the UGC requests the government for more funding, because education brings social benefits, the government stand is that higher education brings private benefits and so no additional funding is received," he said.

Today, While the free education system benefits children from rural lower income families, higher education benefits students from the rich and upper middle class he said.

"Students from rural areas, and the poor, cannot afford to enrol into schools with better facilities or pay for extra tuition and books which will help them compete for the limited seats available in the universities."

The lack of good communication skills in the English language and social etiquette is also placing rural students at a disadvantage. English is the official language in many, if not all, business organisations in Colombo and if Sri Lanka aspires to be a hub of the global BPO and ICT sectors, prospective employees must be competent in the language.

A command of the English language has other benefits too.

"Out of a total of 129 CIMA graduates, 97 of them are from Colombo or close to Colombo and 32 from other districts and there is no unemployment among CIMA graduates," Ratnayake pointed out, highlighting the growing disparity between Colombo and rural areas.

The business community wanted the universities to revolutionise their methods so that students did not end up book smart but become employable with a well balanced education, fortified with soft skills and a command of the English language.

Ratnayake affirmed that "unless reforms are done, apart from the medical, engineering and businesses faculties, the graduates from all the faculties will always be unemployed.

With regards to who was responsible, the government, private sector, the universities and the students and their families all shared the responsibility in varying degrees.

Alison Price, Leeds Metropolitan University, said that the next step will be to compile a report which will be disseminated to the delegates. The report will put out recommendations on what needs to be done and who should be responsible and for what.

Her report will be compared to similar reports compiled in the UK and other countries.

Gill Westaway, British Council Country Director, said that this project, funded by the British government, will be closely monitored and together with Ministry of Higher Education, Universities and the confirmed private sector participants will build partnerships and lobby for reforms.

"The problem of employability is a global issue, but it is accentuated in developing countries," she said.