Can Service Learning enhance Graduate Capital? Evidence from Sri Lankan State Universities

Abstract

Employability of graduates has been a topic of high interest among graduates, academics, employers and economists alike for decades. Researchers argue that the responsibility of preparing graduates for their first job roles, has not been adequately owned by the universities nor the employers. The graduates themselves, give less attention to the issue and usually ill prepared for their first job roles. Service Learning (SL) is a futuristic andragogical strategy that changes the receiver and the giver of the service. In this study, the researcher examines how SL can be adopted as an enhancer of employability potential for graduates. Since the SL is new to the academic world in general and also to the Sri Lankan education system, this inductive study adopted the Grounded Case Study method using theoretical sampling to study the influence of SL as a strategy for enhancing graduate employability potential – Graduate Capital (GC) in state universities of Sri Lanka. The findings of the study include the features of SL practiced in Sri Lanka, GC attributes and the extent of enhancements of GC attributes due to partaking in SL program. The current study concludes that SL provides overall improvement to GC attributes.