Postgraduate aspirants on the rise

Suraj A. Bandara

Kelaniya University Post Graduate Institute sources said more than half of the graduates who have local university first degrees would pursue postgraduate degrees.

Though postgraduate degrees offered by universities are expensive the academic interests of first graduates are not restricted. They follow either Masters or PhD degrees in their specialized fields. Since the number of graduates are increasing the demand for graduates seems to be on the decline.

They consider a postgraduate degree as an added qualification in finding a job, the sources said.

Graduates passed out from local universities prefer to join the state sector. The Government pension scheme is the main impetus that drives them to join the Government sector.

The main obstacles in finding employment for local university graduates are twofold. They lack of technological knowledge, specially computer literacy, which has a tremendous demand in the private sector. Lack of English knowledge of local graduates has also affected their employment prospects, the sources said.