BSc International Relations, MA Governance, Development & Public Policy (University of Sussex)
RIC Programme: BSc International Relations (2014 – 2017)
Designation: Executive Director, Arutha
When I enrolled at RIC, I was not sure where an International Relations degree would lead me. I had a vague idea of being a researcher but did not even know what my research area would be. What I ended up doing eventually was co-founding and running Arutha, a public policy think tank. Looking back at the foundation I gained from the BSc, I realise that it was far more versatile than I could have imagined.
What I value most from RIC are the friends I made here who are still among the closest in my life, and some of my lecturers became mentors and friends too. That community has also been a professional asset. In Sri Lanka’s think tank and development sector, you will almost always find RIC graduates, whether in think tanks or international organisations. That shared background builds trust quickly and opens doors, and it is a network you gain simply by having studied here.
The University of London degree itself prepared me well for postgraduate study. I went on to do my Master’s at the Institute of Development Studies (IDS), at the University of Sussex in the UK, the world’s leading centre for development studies. I arrived unsure of how I would measure up against students from top class universities. I quickly found that I could more than keep up with the heavy reading load, and my academic writing was on par with my peers. The credit goes to the rigour of the University of London’s social science programmes, which demand that you build an argument, test it against evidence and defend it clearly. Those habits carried me through my Master’s and still shape how I write today.
That rigour came from the lecturers in the social science stream, who took the time to shape our thinking. There was a slogan on the lift doors of the old RIC building: learn how to think, not what to think. I didn’t pay it much attention then, but I have come to see it as the best summary of my time there. In a field where being able to weigh competing evidence and form your own view is the whole job, that lesson has served me better than any single piece of course content.
To current students, especially those unsure where their degree will take them: don’t worry if the path isn’t clear. Mine wasn’t. I went from an IR degree to being a research analyst in the Ministry of Finance, and eventually running my own public policy think tank. In a world of linear thinking, use your degree to carve out a different pathway.
I am grateful to RIC for the foundation it gave me, and I wish the Institute many more years of success.