I joined the University of Peradeniya in April 1980 and promoted to the Associate Professor in 1999, to the Professor in September 2001 and Senior Professor in 2009. While serving as a University academic I was awarded a scholarship under USAID programme to read both the postgraduate degrees, M.Sc. (1984) and Ph.D. (1986), from the Pennsylvania State University, USA. During the past 30 years I served in various capacities.

In April 2004, I joined the World Bank funded "Improving Relevance and Quality of Undergraduate Education" (IRQUE) Project as the Quality Assurance Specialist. I have pioneered the work on all aspects of quality assurance in external reviews. Many activities were conducted to introduce QA system to Sri Lankan Higher Education in collaboration with other experts. In May 2005, the Quality Assurance and Accreditation Council of Sri Lanka (QAA Council) was established and I continued to work as the QA Specialist.

The QAA Council conducted activities in public universities under the guidance and recommendations of the Standing Committee on QAA, University Grants Commission (UGC). The principal achievement of my work is the successful establishment of a national QA function for public universities. This has achieved a great deal in last five (5) years, including developing of Codes of Practice (11 Parts) and a Credit and Qualification Framework, as well as undertaking 14 Institutional Reviews out of 15 Institutions, 312 Subject/Programme Reviews out of 320 potential subject reviews and 14 Reviews out of 15 University libraries. Also 38 Subject Benchmark Statements were developed (Reference: www.qaacouncil.lk ). Apart from that, Internal Quality Assurance Units (IQAUs) have been established in all public universities in 2005 and a broad framework has been prepared with the involvement of all the stakeholders. By the end of November 2009 the QAA Council was established as a Division of the UGC and appointed me as the Director of the Council.

In year 2007, I was appointed as a Board Member of the Asia Pacific Quality Network (APQN-www.apqn.com ). Association with the APQN provided me the opportunity to share my valuable experience in quality assurance activities in Sri Lankan universities with member countries.

With all these activities, I was able to inculcate Quality Culture into the University system and to conduct many activities and publish research papers to share my experience. I have traveled to several countries; Indonesia, Thailand, Russia, China, Korea, Hong Kong, Netherlands, France, UK, Canada, Vietnam, Japan and USA to share my experience and to participate in seminars/workshops on QA.

Contact Details:

Prof. Colin N. Peiris
Director
QAA Council of the UGC
65/4 Kirula Rad, Colombo 05

Tel: +94 11 2368794
Fax: +94 11 2368621

E-mail: colinpeiris@yahoo.co.uk