Measuring the Readiness for Change among Academics: The Case of Transforming Sri Lankan State Universities into ‘World-class’ Status

Abstract

Sri Lankan state universities are under the pressure of internationalization and achieving ‘world-class’ status. Attitudinal change among academics is imperative to transform state universities into ‘world-class' status. There is a concern about the need for a paradigm shift of the state university academics to achieve international standards of ‘world-class’ universities. As such, this editorial note mainly focuses on providing a conceptual insight into the 'readiness for change' among state university academics, and on signifying a scale of measurement to facilitate the examination of how state university academics accept the transformations in progress to achieve ‘world-class' university status. The suggested measurement scale consists of four dimensions, namely, ‘appropriateness, administration support, change efficacy, and personal benefits, to examine the readiness for change among academics. Though readiness for change among the academics is not essentially sufficient to meet the internationalization and the achievement of the ‘world-class’ status of Sri Lankan state universities, a data driven longitudinal assessment will help higher education decision makers to take effective initiatives to transform Sri Lankan state universities into world-class status.