Impact of Engaging in Student Politics on Undergraduate’s Academic Performance: Evidence from a National University in Sri Lanka

Abstract

In the higher education context in Sri Lanka, government universities have a greater responsibility to produce more productive and effective undergraduates to society. The higher education system's quality disrupted, caused by the student's engagement with student union activities. In that case, the government, university administration, and society suffer from poor knowledgeable and unskilled undergraduates passing out from government universities. In this research study, the researcher investigates major four factors; family background of the undergraduates, university environment, difficulties faced by the undergraduates and undergraduate's sports involvement in university, which significantly cause student union engagement in national universities. It was found that, family background, university environment, difficulties faced by the undergraduates and sports participation of the undergraduate's influence towards students’ involvement in university politics. Ultimately, union involvement significantly impacts the undergraduate's academic performance, which was confirmed by results generated through the omnibus model of the test. The findings of this study provide insights for university administration, parents, and primary and secondary school teachers to generate more productive and effective undergraduates through national universities in Sri Lanka.