University Grants Commission - Sri Lanka

Terms of Reference

The UGC, empowered by Section 4(2) of the Universities Act No. 16 of 1978, as and when required appoints Standing Committees for specific purposes, consisting of such members and with such powers, duties and functions as may be determined by the Commission. The Chairman of each Standing Committee shall be a member of the Commission.

The main role of the Standing Committee on Quality Assurance Council would be to function as the advisory body to UGC - QAC and vigorously pursue/promote QA programmes according to universities.

In this regard the following specific activities will be pursued:

• Initiate actions on policy directions issued by the UGC from time to time and take steps to implement prescribed initiatives, programmes and activities at university/campus/institute level.
• Function as a catalytic unit to promote new initiatives and reforms to improve and advance the quality and relevance of all undergraduate and postgraduate degree programmes and convey to the Commission for consideration.
• Function as the advisory body of the QAC of UGC and also as the monitoring and reporting body of the quality assurance and accreditation programme undertaken by QAC.
• Engage in designing and introduction of regulatory framework (i.e. pre-requisites, uniform credit and qualification framework, and standard teaching and training, and evaluation methods) to promote lateral mobility of students among non-professional degree programmes such as Agricultural Sciences, Natural and Applied Sciences and Liberal Arts and Humanities.
• Frame guidelines for planning of new undergraduate degree programmes, namely, a) ways and means of evaluating need and demand, b) graduate profile, c) structure of the study programme, d) courses and intended learning outcomes and planning for course modules, e) evaluation procedures and f) credit qualification framework for natural and applied science degree programmes.

Members Information