Abstract:
After the end of the civil unrest, the necessary of social harmony and
peacebuilding is paid more attention in the reconciliation process. The
important of peace and harmony have become a central theme of investigation
among academics as well as other sectors for the sustainable development of
the country. As far as higher education is concerned, universities had to play a
pivotal role in building up mutual trust and relationship among the multi ethnic
community undergraduates for the betterment of the future, because the
possibility of interaction between the multi ethnic communities was affected by
the civil unrest. Hence there is prime need for understanding each other when
they come together in the universities specially in the north eastern universities,
where the number of multi ethnic undergraduates increased rapidly after the
war. Thus the Eastern, South Eastern, Jaffna universities are facing difficulties in
handling the multi lingual student population and creating harmonious
relationship among them. Clashes among undergraduates that have been
recorded in the universities clearly indicate that unrest prevails in the
universities. Therefore, this study intends to identify and investigation; a) what
social harmony programmes are being implemented in these universities, b)
what challenges are faced by the universities in fostering social harmony among
the undergraduates, c) what can be suggested further to improve and
strengthening the social harmony. For this, research has been primary using
data obtained through interviews, participation observation and used research
books, encyclopedia, universities hand books, and related, materials, such as
e-resources. The research found those universities incorporated the social
harmony subject as a compulsory component in their curriculum. In addition,
the IRQUE, and the HETC Projects, also contributed in various ways for
enhancing social harmony activities such as cultural programmes, field trips,
inter-university student exchange programmes for fostering social harmony
among the under graduates, even though various elements are contributing to
disturb the peaceful environment of the north-eastern universities.
