Specialize in Business Economics with curated programs at USJ

The University of Sri Jayawardenapura (USJ) introduced the Department of Business Economics and the Postgraduate Centre for Business Economics which offers students a wider range of opportunities.

Speaking to the Daily FT, Professor Janak Kumarasinghe, Head of Department of Business Economics; Prof. Kumuduni Sriyalatha, Coordinator of the Postgraduate Diploma in Business Economics, and Dr. Janaka Fernando, heading the Master of Business Economics and Master of Science in Business Economics programs, explained the specificity of the programs.

Excerpts :

Q: Tell us about the Department of Business Economics and give us a little bit of insight into the role of the Postgraduate Centre for Business Economics.

Prof. Kumarasinghe: This is a unique Department because this is the first time a university has started to blend economics and management. The discussion regarding blending these two fields started way back in the 1990s in the management faculty of the University of Sri Jayewardenepura. After having a lengthy discussion about this concept, the Department of Business Economics started as a fully-fledged Department in the year 2002. After graduating a few batches, the need for a postgraduate qualification in this field came out. After stakeholder meetings and discussions, the Postgraduate Centre for Business Economics was established in 2020 to cater to that demand. This was for the first time in Sri Lanka, and we are the pioneers in starting both the undergraduate as well as a Postgraduate programme in Business Economics.

Q: Let's talk about the Postgraduate Centre of Business Economics and how it assists an undergraduate to progress in the field.

Dr. Janaka: Business Economics is unique in many aspects. If you look at the business environment, many people struggle to make effective decisions. This is because they're trained to look at their firm-specific information. When you try to make an optimum decision using firm-specific information, that would be correct for the firm, but in most instances, this firm is part of an industry, and the industry is part of the country or an economy. If you make a decision that doesn't match with the industry or if you won't read what is happening in the industry and the economy, your optimum decision for the firm may not be correct. So what we offer in this aspect is that if we take Business Economics, it's a blend of management, microeconomics, and macroeconomics. Microeconomics means we focus on firm-specific aspects and industry-specific aspects. Macroeconomics means we focus on macroeconomic variables such as inflation, what's happening in the exchange rate market, which are common topics under our programs, plus management, which is managing firm-specific things as well. As such, we combine these three aspects, and this is the uniqueness of Business Economics. This means they should know about their business, the industry, and the economy, and that's what we offer in our Postgraduate programs.

Q: You said there's a blend of subjects. That's what's most beneficial for a Postgraduate student, where they garner a variety of knowledge from this specific program. Could you elaborate on specific programs offered by the Postgraduate Centre for Business Economics?

Prof. Sriyalatha: Initially, we started with two Postgraduate programs. One is the Master of Philosophy (M.Phil) program, which is a two-year program based on research activities. The other one is the Master of Business Economics (MBE) program which is a one-year program. Here we highly focus on people working in the corporate sector and the public sector. Considering the growing demand, we have introduced another two courses in 2021. The first one is the Master of Science course, which is a two-year course with a research component and other subjects. Under the MSc program, we offer two alternative options for students; one is specialization in banking, development studies, women's studies, and policy studies. Students who don't like to specialize in a specific area have a chance to do a general degree. The second one we introduced in 2021 is the Postgraduate Diploma in Business Economics program.

Dr. Janaka: Why we need the Postgraduate Diploma program is because when we look at entry qualifications for the Master's program, even a student with degree qualifications who don't have a class needs three years of experience. Instead of that, if they enroll in our Postgraduate Diploma program, within one year, they can proceed to the Master's program. Therefore the Postgraduate Diploma is more of a bridging program to expedite their enrollment into our Master's program.

Q: Let's talk about the business environment, in Sri Lanka and across the globe, which is ever-changing. How do these Postgraduate qualifications help students to survive in the prevailing turbulent and changing business environment?

Dr. Janaka: When the environment is unpredictable, decision-making is difficult. What we try to develop in our students are skills for them to make decisions in this kind of dynamic environment. It's not an easy task to make decisions in a dynamic environment if you don't have the necessary tools. If you look at the subject combinations we offer, we offer very specific subjects such as computer-based data analytics that combine with continuous dialogues with industry professionals. We have visiting lecturers, and we frequently invite industry people to share their views. If you look at the program design, we have identified highly demanding areas to offer specialization, such as policy analysis which is a unique program where you can analyze the effectiveness of a policy. Likewise, from the program design to delivery, we have accommodated these needs in the environment. We are not going to train you to make decisions in a static environment because it's easy. What's difficult is to make decisions in a dynamic environment. Therefore we train you to do that.

Prof. Kumarasinghe: We have a unique environment to cater to such a dynamic environment. Since we talk about the pandemic situation, it is not that we expect another health pandemic in the economy, but we might come across crises in many other forms. What we have here within the Department as well as in the Centre is that we have continuous curriculum reviews where we take insights from stakeholders, students, and lecturers. We gain insights from industry experts to cater to the industrial needs within the academic program. As a result, we have the competitive edge to get the know-how a little in advance. That helps us to make changes and provide flexibility to the students to elevate their studies and face the dynamic environment.

Q: What about the profiles of lecturers?

Prof. Sriyalatha: When we talk about the lecture panel, almost all of them are Ph.D. holders, and a majority of them earned their Ph.D. degrees from foreign countries such as UK, Australia, and Japan. They got their foreign exposure for Ph.D. studies, and apart from that, we take many professional individuals, especially from institutes like the Central Bank of Sri Lanka and other industries. Prof. Kumarasinghe: When we select a lecturer, we look into certain key performance indicators such as his or her Postgraduate studies, research background, working experience, etc., because at the end of the day, we want to give the best to our students.

Q: What practices do you follow to ensure the quality of the programs offered via the Department and the Postgraduate Centre for Business Economics?

Dr. Janaka: When a state university does something, there are certain standards to follow. In Sri Lanka, we have an accepted quality framework. All the degree programs starting from O/Ls up to doctoral level have been based on this qualification framework. All these programs are approved by the University Grant Commission, and they have assigned and assured these programs follow those standards. Postgraduate Diploma is an SLQF Level 8 qualification, Master of Business Economics is a Level 9 qualification, MSc in Business Economics is a Level 10 qualification, and M.Phil in Business Economics is Level 11 qualification. We can't get the mentioned levels if we do not maintain the quality. We have a quality assurance system within the University, faculty, and Department. We assure the quality from the program designing to delivery to assessment and in all other aspects. If you take the last two years, they were quite challenging in the face of the pandemic. Even during the pandemic, we maintained the quality of delivery, quality of programs, and assessments using innovative techniques. We quickly adapted to the hybrid model, but it's not just delivering. We first did a survey with students, checked their background and availability. Even during difficult times, we maintained quality. As such, we have both internal and external systems to monitor the quality of our programs.

Q: Let's talk about how the Department or Postgraduate Centre for Business Economics eases the students to get into the research field. What is the research culture like in this Department?

Prof. Sriyalatha: When we talk about the corporate or private sector, most students come to do their Master's degree with us lack in research skills. Most students who come from academia have enough skills to do their research. As a Department, we are giving students continuous feedback, and we involve them in their research-related works from the first semester itself. For that, we arrange various seminars and also conduct review meetings every month so that students can enhance their research abilities and skills. At the same time, in the case of MSc or M. Phil students, we arrange regular meetings with the lecture panels and get them to present their research papers. We have a special research Centre for the students to cater to their requirements, and it annually organizes a special student research conference to publish the best research work of both the undergraduate and postgraduate students.

Prof. Kumarasinghe: Very recently, some undergraduates and postgraduate students were able to publish their researches which they have done with our supervisors, in very reputed journals. This reflects the quality of the research culture of the Department.

Q: How do you help students to manage a work-life balance because the situations are different when it comes to a Postgraduate student who has to gain financial independence, manage work and personal life compared to an undergraduate student?

Dr. Janaka: It's different from undergraduate students, and we understand the issues at hand. All coordinators are friendly and approachable anytime. When they have any issues, they are free to talk to us. Therefore they are not afraid to talk about their issues. That's the first thing we developed in our Centre. We have a family culture within the Department of Business Economics. This is even within our academic staff and students. They are like our family members. We maintain that relationship, and it helps them to have a comfortable student life. Apart from that, there are a lot of other resources which are available. When they enroll in a Postgraduate program, it is not only about facilitating their studies, and we also have well-developed infrastructure facilities for sports and other recreational activities within university premises and a nice landscape too. It's pleasant, and they can relax. For the first time in Sri Lanka, we officially created a channel for students to bring their grievances. In most universities in Sri Lanka, student associations are only for undergraduates. Postgraduates are like part-time visitors and are not recognized as part of the university. Therefore we established a Postgraduate Student Association. Through that, they can bring their issues officially. It has a formal structure with a president and other office-bearers. We have introduced several measures to help them manage work and personal life and also we are flexible. We listen and listen seriously.

Q: How do you fulfill the promises given to students with regards to the duration of their selected courses?

Dr. Janaka: Credibility comes from history, and it depends on whether we have delivered what we promised in the past or not. We started our one-year Masters's program in April 2020, and we completed it in March 2021. We started the second batch in April 2021, and they are definitely going to complete by March 2022. I can assure you that if you enroll in this program, you can plan everything accordingly because we have already fixed our academic calendar from April to March.

Q: What are the opportunities that students could enroll in apart from education?

Dr. Janaka: By enrolling as a postgraduate student of the Faculty of Management Studies and Commerce (FMSC), you are getting into the most prestigious community of the field as FMSC is the pioneer of higher education in management. By getting into this community, you'll be able to build up a very valuable network that will definitely add value in your future endeavors.

Prof. Kumarasinghe: Management faculty of the University of Sri Jayewardenepura is the best in Sri Lanka. If you're going to get a qualification from that faculty, be it an undergraduate or postgraduate qualification, it is the best. If you want to get a specific qualification like business economics, this is the ideal place to get it.