Tell us about your DBA Research – Anusha Liyanage
Head – NIBM Galle Centre (December 01, 2023 onwards)
Anusha Liyanage successfully completed his DBA degree programme at the Faculty of Management and Finance, University of Colombo, in year 2023.
The title of his DBA thesis is “An exploration of career guidance instruments in meeting career related needs of young adults in Sri Lanka”
How did you develop an interest on this topic?
My experience in Career guidance as a practitioner and an academician over the last 15+ years showed me how important this field is and yet how laid back it is in Sri Lanka. The latter being mainly due to the lack of contribution of scientific researchers for the development of this field, I decided to start that from my level.
What are your main findings?
Career Key and Career Interest Test, the two instruments used by state sector career guidance practitioners are highly unsuitable to be used on Sri Lankan young adults due to number of significant reasons including the inability of the instruments to consider the context specific factors that severely impact the career aspirations and career choices of them. The 65 context specific factors identified through the research need to be incorporated when developing a country specific career guidance instrument.
What are the implications of your research?
In the practical perspectives this will bring the due attention of regulators to scientifically modifying and/or developing the career guidance instruments incorporating context specific factors, which will benefit the young adults.
In the literature perspectives, this research brings together two fields that were not interconnected earlier, i.e. career guidance and developmental sciences. This will pave the path for future researchers to jointly explore and develop these two fields.
What was it like to do a DBA at the University of Colombo?
Joining the first batch of DBA at the University of Colombo is the best decision I have made regarding my studies. Having done my bachelors and masters at the same faculty, I was well aware of the quality of the programs, support given by the highly qualified academic staff and friendly non-academic staff. They made the tedious and exceptionally rigorous doctoral study journey very interestingly challenging and fulfilling. As the number 01 university in the country, this program brought the standards of DBA programs to an extraordinary level.
Finally – what will you do next?
I will be the researcher of ‘’Recommendations for future research’’ part of my doctoral thesis and I will try my best to get the authorities to implement ‘’Recommendations for practical implementations’’ part of my doctoral thesis to uplift the career guidance field in Sri Lanka.
