Factors Influencing University Riots: A Study on a Few Selected Sri Lankan Universities

Abstract

This study is conducted to understand the factors influencing student university riots in a few selected universities in Sri Lanka. The aim of the research is to identify factors that impact and cause student riots in the Sri Lankan context. Student riots are the cause of many violent and uncontrollable events that affect both universities and the public. This study will provide quantitative analysis to identify the factors that influence that cause student riots within Sri Lankan universities. This area has been studied within the Sri Lankan context, but very limited factors were found that generally cause student unrest. Some of these factors found in Sri Lankan studies that were factors that caused student unrest were differences in ethnicities, extremist ideologies, and social networking. For the data collection and analysis, a questionnaire will be distributed among 375 students in various public universities in Sri Lanka with a focus on the Western Province which consists of three districts: Colombo, Gampaha, and Kalutara. This research will potentially help academic policy makers to understand their student bodies more and create more effective policies to mitigate student unrest by understanding identified factors that influence student university riots in Sri Lanka.