Investigation of how best the distance teaching methodologies adopted by OUSL can cater to meet the training needs of the clothing industry in Sri Lanka

Abstract

As apparel exports occupy the number one spot in export earnings for Sri Lanka ,the clothing industry enjoys a dominant position in the Sri Lankan economy. It is also the major employment source in Sri Lanka. With the abolition of quota system in 2005, when all apparel imports and exports will become open market, unless the Sri Lankan manufacturer can give what the buyer requires at a competitive price, acceptable quality and reasonable time. He wont be able to compete with other countries. Thus Sri Lanka will have to gear to race the challenges that are ahead. One of the areas where the industry needs input is the availability of trained and skilled personnel. The concept of distance education that is practised by the OUSL, which is based on non-contiguous communication readily fits into the atmosphere in which the Sri Lankan apparel industry operates. Though the basic concept is ideal for the industry there are many lapses in the programmers, which need to be addressed by the University. Education and training must develop ways to cope with increasing needs of updating and retraining, as well mastering completely new situations and developments. This work investigates how the programmers conducted by the Department of Textile and Apparel Technology of the Open University of SriLanka is in a position to meet these training needs of the future Sri Lankan apparel industry. In this study number of employers and employees of the industry and students of OUSL were interviewed to investigate how best the educational programmers offered by the University could meet the training and development needs of the apparel industry in Sri Lanka. Views of the industry people also obtained. Number of suggestions and recommendations are made based on this study.