I have been volunteering for the graduate admissions sorting this year. I came across different terminology from different countries and decided to write this inorder to explain the (somewhat) unique terminology that might be seen on Sri Lankan graduate applications.
Obvious disclaimers: (1) I am writing what I know. I may be mistaken. Please verify this with someone who knows better if you are going to use this information to make a very critical decision. (2) Let me know if you think something should be changed/added/removed. (3) I do NOT intend to give "comparision tips" on what is better/worse.
If you are a non Sri Lankan looking for the clarification of some wording, please feel free to reach out to me. I am always happy to expand this writing to add new words.
| Sri Lanka | United States | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| Faculty of X | School of X | Faculty is an academic institute which is a part of an university. A faculty may have few departments. See example. |
| Academic staff | Faculty | |
| Instructor/ Demonstrator/ Temporary or Contract Lecturer | Teaching assistant | |
| Senior Lecturer | This is more or less similar to assistant professor | This is an approximation. Mostly, you become a senior lecturer when you join a department after finishing a PhD. There is no distinct hiring for teaching lecturers and research professors like in the US system. |
| Professor | Associate professor | This is an approximation. Senior Lectuers are promoted to professors by evaluating them on a wide range of aspects (approximately like tenure decision). However, a senior lecturer may stay a senior lecturer until their retirement without turning into a professor in Sri Lanka. |
| Final year project (FYP) | Thesis | Some Sri Lankan universities use this word while others say thesis. This is a research project spanning two academic semesters (in the final year) |
| 1st year, 2nd year, 3rd year, 4th/final year | Freshman, Sophomore, Junior, and Senior | We don't use these weird words in Sri Lanka. We count in numbers like normal people. |
| Admission to the state universities is purely based on GCE Advanced Level examination marks. | Students are usually proud of their GCE Advanced level (last exam in high school) scores even later in life (multiple reasons). Dont consider this as a weird thing. | |
| Island Rank | National Rank | Sri Lanka is one island. We tend to use the word "island" in place of "country". |
| District Rank | Sri Lanka is divided into 25 districts. Most evaluations are done on district basis. A student may mention they were "district topper" in their CV. | |
| 4.0 GPA scale or 4.2 GPA scale | 4.0 GPA scale | Almost all universities in Sri Lanka has the 4.0 scale (A/A+ 4.0, A- 3.7, B+ 3.3 B 3.0 B- 2.7.....). One or two universities have the 4.2 scale (similar to 4.0 scale with 4.2 for A+) |
| First class, Second class upper/lower | Approximately equal to Summa Cum Laude, Magna Cum Laude | You get a first class if your cumilative GPA is more than or equal to 3.7 out of 4.0 or 4.2. Similarly second class upper is 3.3 and lower is 3.0. This may be different in a few universities. |
| IEEE Extreme Programming Competition | ACM ICPC | IEEE Extreme is the popular competition in Sri Lanka for algorithmic programming. Sri Lankan students rarely compete in ACM ICPC. |
| Supervisor | Advisor | Used in the context of research/thesis/internship supervisor. |
