Appeal to Vice Chancellor, University of Moratuwa
Entry requirements for Fashion Design course

The University of Moratuwa has acquired a reputation for competence, productivity and quality, and a willingness to listen to public opinion. That is why we feel that this appeal may serve a useful purpose. It does not ask for anything unfair or unjust. It is a plea for greater fairness and greater justice to a greater number of students.

For several years the University of Moratuwa has offered a degree course in Fashion Design and Product Development. Oddly enough, all students who wish to study Fashion Design must compulsorily pass at least one of the following subjects: Chemistry, Physics, Biology, Higher Mathematics, Combined Mathematics, Geography and (mercifully) Art. Making Art compulsory is understandable for a course in Fashion Design, but instead of Art a student is free to offer any of the other six subjects in the list such as Chemistry or Geography. Thus even the point of making Art a compulsory subject is lost.

From time to time we (who include some school principals) have brought these matters to the attention of the academics running the Fashion Design Course in the University of Moratuwa. They have agreed with us that the compulsory list of subjects for a course in Fashion Design is neither necessary nor even desirable. We were therefore hopeful that the entry requirements for the Fashion Design Course would be changed appropriately. However, we regretfully note that this year’s advertisement calling for applications for the Aptitude Test for the Fashion Design Course repeats the old requirements without any change.

Appropriately the University of Moratuwa holds a critical Aptitude Test to select students with the creative imagination required for Fashion Designing. Our plea to the Vice Chancellor of the University of Moratuwa is to make the Aptitude Test for Fashion Design open to all students in all streams fulfilling the minimum requirements for university admission. Since the Aptitude Test has not yet been held this will not be unfair to anyone.

Few can fail to see that the current list of seven compulsory subjects even to sit for the Aptitude Test in Fashion Design is biased heavily in favor of students who aspire to do medicine or engineering. This seems to us to be very odd at best and very unfair at worst. After all, why should our future Fashion Designers be drawn from the ranks of those who have tried hard and failed to become doctors or engineers? Let the Aptitude Test be the critical criterion for the selection of those with an aptitude for Fashion Design. Let not a list of seven arbitrarily chosen subjects such as Geography and Biology exclude them from even appearing for the Aptitude Test. Moreover, most of the subjects on the compulsory list are not available to Arts Stream students in many schools. These subjects with the exception of Art have little relevance to Fashion Design.

If the Vice Chancellor thinks that our plea is a reasonable one, he has an instantly applicable relief to offer to many artistically inclined students who opt for Fashion Design as a first choice. Because the Aptitude Test has not yet been held the relief granted will not discriminate against any student. Correcting an injustice as soon as possible is not unethical, and there are legal ways open to the Vice Chancellor for doing it with immediate effect. Moreover, by making the Aptitude Test for Fashion Design open to all students fulfilling minimum university admission requirements, the University of Moratuwa will have a much bigger pool of creative talent from which to choose its future Fashion Design students. So it is a win-win situation for all concerned.