Page 15 - UDYAMA FINAL final for web

State Universities

Undeniable Academic Social Enterprises

in Sri Lanka

“Universities are supposed to be academic social
Today, the state universities in enterprises to anticipate the demands and desires
Sri Lanka are on the crossroads to
ensure the sustainability, even of all the stakeholders right around the globe’’
though they are the catalysts be-
hind the nation building and Prof. (Dr.) Mohamed Aslam
accruing global recognition. Inc- Department of Tourism Management
omparable prehistory, history and Faculty of Management Studies
rich heritage persist to be the nat- Sabaragamuwa University of Sri Lanka
ion with wisdom and culture thro-
ugh unfolded growth of knowl-
edge and education system since
the ancient days to recent dec-
ades. This enabled the country to
thrive while undergoing many
numbers of catastrophes and cha-
llenges. Although Sri Lanka is a
tear drop shape small island at a
corner of South Asia, it has been
deemed as a smart nation surpass-
ing many other wealthy nations in
Asia and African continents. Here
nobody can deny the commenda-
ble role and contribution of the
universities in the nation building
process. Yet, within last two to
three decades’ state universities
are fallen into unimaginable com-
petitions and turbulent environ-
ment due the impact of globaliza-
tion and rapid development of the
world. Although universities are
the agent of social transforma-
tion, today they are in the implicit
pressure generated by the host
societies and explicit pressure
generated by the universal func-
tions. Historically university pla-
yed role as ideological apparatus-
es, through expressing ideologi-
cal struggles in societies. Then
became as a mechanism of selec-
tion and socialization of domi-
nant elites. Later, it started to

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