Postgraduate Diploma in Japanese Language

Introduction

Teaching Japanese language at the University of Kelaniya has a long history over 30 years since it first started in 1977. The Japanese language was introduced as one of the main disciplines for the 3 year (general) degree program in 1980. In 2014, Japanese Language 4 year (special) degree program started and a considerable number of students show an interest to choose Japanese as their major subject. Accordingly, annually 30 to 40 students graduate from the University of Kelaniya with a degree in Japanese language. When considering school education, Japanese language is taught in around 130 schools all over the country as a subject for both A/L and O/L Examinations. According to the data collected by the Japanese Language Teachers Association of Sri Lanka, 80% of the Japanese language teachers are graduates of University of Kelaniya. Other than that, graduates of this University engage in the field of Tourism and Foreign Service as well. Moreover, graduates of this University have a high demand in the job market of Japanese companies in both Sri Lanka and Japan as the standard of the Japanese language is high. However, there are no opportunities to meet the requirements of graduates when they seek higher education once they graduate. It is because foreign language continuous learning assists to serve better in any field. Therefore, there is a high demand and request from both our graduates and other Japanese graduates in Sri Lanka for a Japanese language course, in order to enhance their knowledge and competencies further after graduating. The research centre for Japanese studies at the Unversity of Kelaniya proposes this postgraduate Diploma course with the purpose of fulfilling current requirements and as a response to the request of graduate students of Japanese at the University of Kelaniya.

Program Objectives