SQA Orientation and Training in Sri Lanka

A special training programme was organized by the Scottish Qualifications Authority to provide guidance and training to the Academic and Administrative staff at the Java Institute for Advanced Technology.

This event was conducted by Ms. Sarah Reid, Quality Assurance Manager at the SQA at the Head Office of the Java Institute. Ms Reid is a highly experienced External Auditor and has been involved in the approval of many centres worldwide.

The purpose of the visit was to provide support to the centre and train the academic and administrative departments of the Java Institute and to provide valuable feedback on best practices to improve the quality of delivery SQA approved programmes as an official SQA centre.

Ms. Reid spoke to the team and conducted a comprehensive workshop and visited the centre and facilities and commended the Java Institute for its quality management system, which was developed inhouse to support its students and faculty.

During the programme, Ms. Reid introduced the 2013/2014 Centre guidelines and gave a comprehensive demonstration of the new changes in centre policies with regards to assessments and assessment verification and making informed decisions on marking criteria.

Ms. Reid was also supported by Mr. Mevan Wickramasinghe, Manager Education Programmes and SQA Coordinator, who had trained in Malaysia on SQA Quality Assurance earlier this year and presented to Ms. Reid the evidence of the implementation of the knowledge gained, especially the Java Institutes Information system which had been designed and updated to accommodate and be in compliance with SQA quality framework requirements.

Mr. Wickramasinghe and Mr. Asela Cooray, Head of Examinations Department presented a join presentation and Ms. Reid commented on how comprehensive the Java Institute’s information system was in capturing student assessments as well as the assessment delivery cycle and was impressed with the Java Institute’s initiative to become a truly paperless campus in order to provide a sustainable and eco-friendly education system.