An Evaluation of Career Opportunities for Project Management Graduates in Sri Lanka

Abstract

This paper presents and discusses the results of a study on the career opportunities for project management graduates from the state Universities in Sri Lanka. Currently there is only one Project Management degree in Sri Lanka offered by the Vavuniya Campus of the University of Jaffna (currently the University of Vavuniya). There are two batches of 69 graduates. However, lack of knowledge among the relevant stakeholders regarding the career opportunities for these graduates in various sectors. Research objectives intended to identify the career opportunities for Project Management graduates in Sri Lanka and evaluate the competencies required from them to find employment. A sample of 30 graduates in the population is considered for this research. A questionnaire with 20 Likert scale questions and the personal interviews have been constituted as the data collection instruments to collect the data. One of the qualitative methods- Phenomenology has been incorporated with the interpretive analysis. Findings showed that the existing Project Management graduates should possess additional skills to find appropriate employment in project management field. Therefore, undergraduates must be provided with the opportunity to follow other Project Management related professional courses to enhance their competencies. As internship training was very helpful to enhance the practical skills of students, it is recommended that the degree programme should be re-designed and improved to cater the career demand of project related professions in the current scenario.