Dr. Vidyanjalie Abeygunawardena
Head of Centre for Quality Assurance and Senior Lecturer in Mathematics and Statistics
Academic Qualifications
- Doctor of Philosophy in Education (specialising in higher education) (University of Colombo, Sri Lanka)
- Masters in Financial Economics (University of Colombo, Sri Lanka)
- Postgraduate Diploma in Education (Distinction) (University of Colombo, Sri Lanka)
- MSc/PGdip in Industrial Mathematics (University of Sri Jayawardenepura, Sri Lanka)
- BSc in Mathematics and Statistics (University of Sri Jayewardenepura, Sri Lanka)
Professional Qualifications
- Real World Risk Analysis (Real World Risk Institute, New York, USA)
- Data Science and Artificial Intelligence Professional Course in Machine Learning (Leiden University, Netherlands)
- Certificate Courses on Structural Equation Modelling (with AMOS), Partial Least Square Structural Equation Modelling (with SmartPLS), Eviews, and SPSS for Data Analysis
Teaching Experience
- Undergraduate level (Mathematics and Statistics) (LSE Degree Programmes): 12 years
- Undergraduate Level (Statistics and data analytics) (Deakin University Programmes): 1 year
- Post-secondary level (Mathematics and Statistics): 8 years
Research/Consultancy Expertise
Research Interest
- Higher Education, Cross-border Education, Behavioural Economics, Ergodicity Economics, Decision-making under Risk and Uncertainty, Choice-Sets, Students’ Choice, Risk Engineering and Complex Systems, Cognitive Biasness, Machine Learning, Real World Problems and Mathematics Education
International Research Projects
- CONTESSA (Contemporary Teaching Skills for South Asia) Erasmus + Project funded by the European Commission (2019) – Team member University of Colombo, Sri Lanka
Peer Review Contributions and International Conference Involvement
- Contributions as a Judge/Evaluator at International Conferences since 2020
- Active Membership in Scientific Committees for International Conferences since 2020
- Reviewer of Research Papers and Abstracts for International Conferences since 2020
Research Publications (Full Papers)
- Influential Factors in Selecting a Bachelor’s Degree from Private Higher Educational Institutes in Sri Lanka (2018)
- Influential Factors in Selecting a Bachelor’s Degree from International Degree Programmes Offered in Sri Lanka: Perspective of Lecturers and Graduates (2018)
- Towards an Integrated Framework for Selecting a Bachelor’s Degree from Private Higher Educational Institutes in Sri Lanka (2018)
- The role of the teacher in addressing issues of disruptive behaviour in learning mathematics (2019)
- Students behavioural patterns of bachelor’s degree choices in Sri Lanka: Heuristics (2019)
- The impact of gender on students’ choice of bachelor’s degree: A case study of private higher educational institutes affiliated with international degree programmes in Sri Lanka (2019)
- Information-seeking behaviour of undergraduates about higher educational opportunities in Sri Lanka: online or offline? (2019)
Research Publication (Abstracts)
- Information-seeking preferences of male and female students about higher educational opportunities in Sri Lanka (2018)
- Role of social media in strengthening educational choices in the non-state higher education industry in Sri Lanka (2018)
Oral Presentations at International Conferences
- The Impact of Gender on Students’ Choices in Selecting a Bachelor’s Degree: A Case Study (University of Ruhuna, Sri Lanka)
- Perspectives of lecturers and graduates of international degree programmes on the influential factors in selecting a bachelor’s degree from private higher educational institutes in Sri Lanka (University of Northern Colorado, US)
- Influential factors in selecting a bachelor’s degree from private higher educational institutes in Sri Lanka: a study based on undergraduates of international degree programmes (Imperial College London, UK)
- Towards an integrated framework for selecting a bachelor’s degree from private higher educational institutes in Sri Lanka (FOEdu, Sri Lanka)
- The role of the teacher to address issues of disruptive behaviour in learning mathematics (ICTEL, Sri Lanka)
- Students’ behavioural patterns on bachelor’s degree choices in Sri Lanka: Heuristics (ICPLR, Sri Lanka)
- Role of social media in strengthening educational choices in the non-state higher education industry in Sri Lanka: A review (IRSSSH, Sri Lanka)
- The impact of gender on students’ choice in selecting a bachelor’s degree from an international degree programme offered in Sri Lanka (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia)
- Effectiveness of flipped classroom instructions to enhance competencies in algebra: a blended learning application (Bangkok, Thailand)
- Information-seeking behaviour of undergraduates about higher educational opportunities in Sri Lanka: online or offline? (Bangkok, Thailand)
Accepted Research Papers for Oral Presentations at International Conferences and Forums
- Ensemble perspective of the emergence between two-fold logical function and four-fold logical function: A case of interconnected network switch systems (International Conference of Complex Systems, Boston, USA)
- Student’s choice behaviour in selecting an undergraduate programme from private higher education in Sri Lanka: heuristic search (AUA (Asian Universities Alliance) Postgraduate Academic Forum, Tsinghua University, China)
Awards and Scholarships for Research
- Best Overall Presentation 2018: Towards an Integrated Framework for Selecting a Bachelor’s Degree from Private Higher Educational Institutes in Sri Lanka
- Session Best Presentation (under the theme of Higher Education): Towards an Integrated Framework for Selecting a Bachelor’s Degree from Private Higher Educational Institutes in Sri Lanka
- ‘Achievers’ scholarships (2018): FOEdu conference (2018)
- The Best Paper Presenter: ICPLR (2018)