Dear Open University, I'm leaving...

My 2 years of the full-time academic journey finally came to end, I'm writing this article just as a tribute to my beloved working place, The Open University of Sri Lanka. So let me start with a bit of background, I joined open university back in 2021 for two years contract as a temporary lecturer. I never thought to leave this fast, but the current economic crisis in Sri Lanka hit hard on me. Everybody knows, that working in academia is not a financially feasible option. I just followed it because I love teaching and to work with students. I recently found a more financially feasible and loving opportunity so decided to join there. For now, let's keep it aside and let me tell you how everything started,

Part 01:

I got rejected two times from the Open University before getting my acceptance letter.

Graduating from a private institution and moving to a government job is not quite a common thing in Sri Lanka. I always admire the Open University for not having that institutional bias, but still, I would say it was not easy to get in. I was rejected twice before and just thought to write down those experiences because I think it will motivate someone who read this not to give up.

Attempt 01:

Just after completing my bachelor's, I applied for the position of Project manager. At the time I didn't have that much interview experience. Nobody told me I was supposed to print all my documents, and CV and bring them. So I just went there empty-handed.

The first question the interviewer was where is your CV? I said I have emailed it.

Did you email your transcript too? I said no. I have completed my degree but the official transcript is not issued yet.

Then the interviewer said get out. That was one of the most awkward interview experiences I have ever had.

Note: Please note that this experiance does not reflect the culture of my work place. I'm just sharing this because I want to be genuine and share the true experiance.        

Attempt 02:

Nothing much happened in the second interview. It was a year after the first experience. I applied for a temporary lecturer position and the interview got called online. Due to some personal matters, I missed the interview date. Day after I wrote an email apologizing for all the inconvenience that happened. I didn't get a reply and that's it.

Attempt 03:

Middle of nowhere I got a call from Open University and the person who called me(Later got to know her, Ishara thanks for calling me on that day.) asked me to come for a temporary lecturer interview. I said okay and didn't take it seriously because at the time I'm not actively looking for a job. I was supposed to conduct 15min lecture during the interview. So I prepared some slides and went there, but didn't take them seriously.

Somehow randomly I got selected. So what I try to express here is in social media it's so easy to get procrastinated. People only share their success stories. But just keep in mind, that everybody fails and it's not something to be ashamed of.

Part 02:

What I love in acedemic working culture.

Well, initially it was quite challenging, sometimes as academics, we need to be involved with non-academic work as well. So sometimes it could be hectic but it was nice to know the non-academic works as well.

What I always admire is the freedom that universities have given to the academic staff. I personally do not like the idea of fingerprints on the front door. In Open University there are fingerprints for non-academic staff, but for academics, we had the freedom to decide when to come work and when to not. I think with the effect of covid even private companies now accept remote working with proper time tracking tools, which is a good move because people do not need to wait hours in traffic jams and come to the work physically.

As a junior academic I had time to focus on my postgraduate exams and research as well. My most recent research contribution was in last month my paper got accepted into the 7th International Conference on Business and Industrial Research, Thailand. I'm supposed to present the findings this May.

University Toastmaster club is also a place where I got an opportunity to meet new people and improve my language skills. That was a quite fun experience, especially the club meeting at last Christmas, and I'm thankful to Savithree for introducing me to the club.

Advertisement: If anybody want to join the club drop a message to Prof Uditha Ratnayake, anyway it's not for the students but for university staff and proffesioanls.         

What I do not love in acedemic working culture.

Well, there is not much to mention, maybe if it is possible to reduce non-academic workloads on academic staff it would be an easier plus if the faculty or the department can organize gatherings to network newly recruited staff that would also be a plus. Because it took me quite some time to network with our lecturers and senior lecturers. Other than that everything was perfect for me.

Part 03:

The hardest part is saying Good-Bye

I do not know how people leave workplace so easily, for me it's so hard to say bye. I really want to keep the bonds that I made during my work life and hopefully, they will never last.

Conclusion:

A wise man once said, "Every dark cloud has a silver lining" and this is not the end. I'm planning for a new beginning with a lot more energy. Plus I'll continue part-time lecturing at Open University, so students, you have nothing to worry about.

Cheers!!!