Examine the challenges encountered by undergraduates pursuing external degrees offered by the University of Sri Jayewardenepura regarding the conduct of lectures at the university

Abstract

Students who register for the distance learning degrees (External degrees) offered by the University of Sri Jayewardenepura are in different age categories. Most have been employed (Kuruppuarachchi, and Karunanayake, 2017). Also, they live and work in other areas of the country. Some of them have been married and have babies. Therefore, External students cannot regularly attend the lectures, participate in the field work, or frequently visit the university to take and hand in the assignments. Existing literature suggests applying a distance or blended mode to deliver the external degrees of the government universities of Sri Lanka. Using a survey research methodology, this study was done to understand the problems faced by undergraduates of external degrees offered by the University of Sri Jayewardenepura. Research revealed that using E-Learning techniques to deliver external degrees is at a minimum level. As a result, students face many difficulties participating in the onsite lectures and completing their degrees on time.