A Study On Public Sector Good Governance: With Special Reference To The University Of Colombo

Abstract

Public sector in Sri Lanka spreads to a wider range of sectors of the economy (Kumara & Handapangoda, 2008) and Sri Lanka is the country which has comparatively a larger public sector in Asia (Iqbal, 2002). Capital and recurrent expenses of all these public entities are funded through the public funds which are collected through different tax sources. Therefore ultimate owners of such entities are the public. As all such public participation to the management process is not practicable, members of the parliament who are elected by the public are been empowered by the constitution to control these entities on behalf of the public. So that the Minister concerned appoints Board of Management of the public entities and they are accountable to the general public through the parliament in justifying whether public funds have been utilized in order to meet the public expectations (Perera, 2010). Since public funds are been controlled by the appointed board there should be a Good Governance (GG) mechanism in order to keep proper control over the activities of the management and protect the public interest. The constitution of Sri Lanka has established strong mechanism by empowering Auditor General (AG) to conduct comprehensive audit over the public enterprises and empowering Committee on Public Enterprises (COPE) to review performance of such entities. But annual reports of AG’s have pointed out many misappropriations of public funds, violations of the financial regulations by the public entities and activities that are not complying with the good governance practices for public enterprises in Sri Lanka. With the understanding of the significance of accountability of public entities researchers have selected the University of Colombo (UOC) in order to review how governors of the UOC have designed and arranged its governance practices as the agents to the public, to explore the adequacy of governance practices of UOC and its public accountability in delivering and protecting stakeholder interests. Data for this study was collected through 40 interviews. It covers Senior Assistant Registrars (SAR), Senior Assistant Bursars (SAB), Deans of Faculties, Department Heads, Lecturers, students (Undergraduates), and staff members of University Grants Commission. Data analysis was based on Agency theory and Stakeholder theory. The study found that the governance structure of the UOC is not adequately arranged to meet the criteria laid out by the Organization for Economic Corporation and Development (OECD), if it to be a GG. Even though it could be identified certain GG characteristics in its governance structure other than regulatory compliances, they are scattered in a non- orderly manner. Furthermore, study found that governors UOC had put an effort to construct the governance mechanism bring up to an acceptable level. Yet as it is not adequately inculcated in to the UOC’s administration. Finally it can be concluded that, although an existing system of governance of the UOC has ensured stakeholders interest at its best there are certain practices which need to be further improved in order to maintain accountability and transparency of the UOC activities.