Inviting Expressions of Interest for Consultancy

Consultancy on Designing and Developing  Tailor Made English Course

AHEAD/RA2/ELTALESE/SJP/FMSC/MKT/CON/01

The AHEAD Operation of University of Sri Jayewardenepura, invites Expressions of Interest from interested parties for Consultancy on Designing and Developing Tailor Made English Course,  under the ELTA/ELSE Department Grant,(Department of Marketing Management).

1. BACKGROUND

The development of the higher education sector is of central importance to enable Sri Lanka to make the transition from a Lower-Middle Income Country (LMIC) to an Upper Middle-Income Country (UMIC). Recognizing this, the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) and the World Bank have agreed, to support the higher education sector through a Bank funded Accelerating Higher Education Expansion and Development (AHEAD) operation.

2. THE OPERATION

Accelerating Higher Education Expansion and Development (AHEAD) operation is organized into two components. The first is a Program Component that supports the national Higher Education Development Program. The second is a systems strengthening, capacity building and technical assistance component that will assist GoSL to strengthen the higher education sector and achieve the objectives of the AHEAD program component. This second will also cover monitoring and evaluation, policy analyses, program coordination and communication.

The implementing agency is the Ministry of City Planning, Water Supply and Higher Education. The University Grants Commission (UGC) will coordinate the activities of the universities. There will be an Operations Monitoring and Support Team (OMST) which will coordinate and support all AHEAD activities between the MHEH, UGC, and the universities.

AHEAD has three Results Areas:

Results Area 1: Increasing Enrollment in Priority Disciplines for Economic Development

Results Area 2: Improving the Quality of Higher Education

Results Area 3: Promoting Research, Development and Innovation

3. THE OBJETIVE OF THE CONSULTANCY

B.Sc. Marketing Management (Special) degree offered by the Department of Marketing Management, Faculty of Management Studies and Commerce, University of Sri Jayewardenepura aims to produces marketing graduates with knowledge, skills, and right attitudes who can challenge the status quo to bring about sustainable changes at individual, organizational and social levels. In achieving this objective, communication skills of undergraduates are playing a significant role.

Currently, the students of the Department follow English under two course units in their first year. These English courses are common to all the students in the faculty. According to the students’ feedback obtained by the Department regarding improvements to the degree programme, it is identified that students are facing severe difficulties in engaging in academic activities, since the medium of the degree is entirely in English. Further, students face difficulties in using technical words in the field of Marketing, and when preparing assignments, presentations which are compulsory parts of the degree programme. Further, in the proposed curricular for the B.Sc. Marketing Management (Special) degree, which is to be implemented from 2020, the Department has suggested three unique courses in three semesters of second and third academic years of the degree programme. The three course units covers basic English, spoken English, and academic writing. Therefore, it is decided to offer a tailor made English course which covers above mentioned requirements.

Thus, the objective of the consultancy is to develop a tailor made English course which consists of Basic English, Spoken English, and Academic Writing for the undergraduates who are reading for the B.Sc. Marketing Management (Special) Degree Programme.

4. SCOPE OF THE CONSULTANCY

1. Develop the course specification (outline) for Basic English, Spoken English, and Academic Writing courses. Course specification should consist of course details, detailed syllabus, methods of course delivery, learning activities, methods of evaluation and teaching guidelines.
2. Develop the course guide (manual) for Basic English, Spoken English, and Academic Writing courses. Course guide should consist of detailed introduction and explanation to each topic of the course, examples/ sample works, activities for students, and review questions.
3. Introducing the course to the Department of Marketing Management and respective lecturers.

All are compulsory credit courses. Basic English course will consist of 03 credits, Spoken English course will consist of 02 credits, and Academic Writing course will consist of 01 credit.

5. KEY TASKS AND RELATED ACTIVITIES

The main duties and responsibilities of the selected consultant will be to:

Key Task	Required Deliverable	Time frame (after signing the contract)
Develop the course specification (draft version)	Course details, course introduction, course objectives, learning outcomes, learning resources, learning activities, syllabus, methods of evaluation	10th January 2020 – 31st January 2020
Develop the course guide /manual (draft version)	Required introductions and explanations to each topic of the course, examples/ sample works, students’ activities, review questions, details on continuous assessments.	1st February 2020 – 31st March 2020
Submitting the completed works after comments	Submitting the finalized soft copies and hard copies of all works, Present the course	1st April 2020 – 30th April 2020

6. DURATION OF THE ASSIGNMENT

The contract will run for three (03) months and twenty (20) dates from the date of signing the contract (10^th January 2020 – 30^th April 2020).

7. MODE OF PAYMENT

Payment plan of the consultancy project is indicated below.

1. 10% from the total value will be paid at after submitting the course specification
2. 40% from the total value will be paid after submitting the final course specification and the draft version of the course guide
3. Balance 50% will be paid after submitting the final version of the course guide (both soft and hard copy)

 

8. REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS & EXPERIENCE

1. A degree from a recognized university in English
2. 08 years of experience in teaching English to undergraduates
3. Experience in developing courses and course materials on English
4. Experience and understanding regarding corporate/ business communications
5. Fair understanding regarding the field of management/ marketing

9. REPORTING THE DELIVERABLES

The consultant shall closely coordinate and report to the Project Coordinator and Activity Coordinator of the AHEAD Project of the Department of Marketing Management, Faculty of Management Studies and Commerce, University of Sri Jayewardenepura. The consultant should report his progress of the work to the Project Coordinator and the Activity Coordinator after each four weeks’ period during the project time.

10. REQUIRED PROFESSIONAL COMPETENCIES

1. Ability to meet the given deadlines
2. Ability to be innovative and creative
3. Team working skills and good interpersonal relations
4. Professionalism and neatness in works

11. OWNERSHIP OF THE ASSIGNMENT

This assignment is funded by the Ministry of Higher Education via AHEAD-OMST under the program component of AHEAD. As such, the University shall be the owner of the assignment and will reserves the Intellectual Property Rights for all deliverable of the assignment under the terms and conditions given in the IP policy of the University. The Consultant will have no right of claim to the assignment or its outputs once it is completed and no rights to use Data and Information gathered through the assignment for other purposes without written permission from the Vice Chancellor. Any Reports/ Data/ Information produced as a part of this assignment shall be handed over to the Client in soft and hard forms.

12. APPLICATION AND PARTICULARS :

Sealed quotations will be received by the Deputy Director/Procurement(OTS), AHEAD Operation, 1^st Floor, Vice Chancellor’s Lodge,  University of Sri Jayewardnepura, Gangodawila, Nugegoda on or before 2.30 p.m. of 03.12.2019.

You are hereby requested to provide your work schedule along with your CV and any other data which you may think are relevant for accepting your quotation.

Dr. W.G.S.Kelum
Director/OTS,
AHEAD Operation,

ANNEXURE

English Courses Offered Under Management Common Programme of the Faculty of Management Studies and Commerce, University of Sri Jayewardenepura.

BCC 1340: BUSINESS COMMUNICATION I

This course aims to help students reach the level of Band 4/5 of the UTEL. Upon completion of the course, students should be able to construct both simple and complex sentences accurately, express their views meaningfully in brief discussions and telephone conversations, obtain required information from auditory texts, read and extract information in texts for a variety of purposes, write short texts and business letters.

BCC 1341: BUSINESS COMMUNICATION II

This course aims to help students reach the level of benchmark Band 5/6 of the UTEL.  This course introduces the students to language skills required in different business situations.  Upon completion of this course, students should be able to participate in business meetings confidently and effectively, communicate effectively in a variety of situations, take down notes from auditory texts, read and respond to texts for a variety of purposes, write short formal texts and business letters, and use presentation techniques effectively and make brief presentations.