From Sri Lanka to the World : SLIIT Business School Students Address Child Labour Through Research

The SLIIT Business School has marked a significant milestone in undergraduate research excellence, as a final-year student research group achieved the rare distinction of publishing four Q1-ranked, Scopus-indexed journal articles addressing child labour and sustainable development.

Publishing multiple Q1 journal articles at undergraduate level remains exceptionally rare in the global higher education landscape.

The research was conducted by a dedicated team of final-year undergraduates: Himashi Muthugala, Tharaka Magammana, Amanda Bandara, and Ayodhya Perera.

The achievement highlights the growing global research footprint of SLIIT and reinforces its commitment to fostering evidence-based scholarship that addresses pressing global challenges.

The research was undertaken by the academic supervision of Prof. Ruwan Jayathilaka, Professor and Head of the Department of Information Management at the SLIIT Business School.

Commenting on the achievement, Prof. Jayathilaka stated,

“This accomplishment reflects strong academic discipline, analytical depth, and a commitment to addressing real-world development challenges through scholarly research.

It also underscores SLIIT’s expanding global research presence and its dedication to evidence-based policymaking”.

The four publications, now featured in internationally recognised, high-impact journals, collectively examine the socio-economic drivers of child labour across key developing regions, particularly within SAARC nations and parts of Africa.

By integrating large-scale data analysis with a policy-oriented research design, the studies provide timely and actionable insights aligned with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Specifically, the research contributes to SDG 3 (Good Health and Well-being), SDG 4 (Quality Education), SDG 8 (Decent Work and Economic Growth), and SDG Target 8.7, which calls for the eradication of child labour in all its forms.

The findings underscore the interconnected nature of poverty, inequality, limited educational access, weak health systems, and governance challenges in perpetuating child labour across developing economies.

Importantly, the studies move beyond theoretical discussion to identify practical intervention pathways.

The research highlights the critical need to strengthen national education systems, improve public health outcomes, reduce income inequality, expand access to decent employment opportunities for adults, and enhance institutional and governance capacity.

These multidimensional strategies, the research suggests, are essential to breaking the structural cycles that sustain child labour.

This achievement underscores the strength of SLIIT Business School’s research supervision framework, which promotes globally relevant undergraduate research grounded in methodological rigour, policy relevance, and international publication standards.

As Sri Lanka strengthens its presence in the global knowledge economy, such milestones reflect the growing research maturity of local institutions while enhancing the international standing of SLIIT Business
School, demonstrating that impactful, policy-driven research can emerge from Sri Lankan classrooms to the global stage.