Alumni Stories
GRADS 2026: Kithmini Aviruppola
A high-achieving student, Kithmini Aviruppola’s parents had encouraged her to study law, which she completed at the University of Peradeniya in her home country of Sri Lanka.
She passed the bar, and qualified to practise as a lawyer, but within a few months, found herself back in academia – this time, as a teacher at the University of Colombo. It was here that she was exposed to pedagogy – the study of education – for the first time.
“When I completed the Certificate for Teaching in Higher Education, I learnt about the importance of Bloom’s taxonomy in drafting learning objectives, Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory and so on. I got to see how these educational theories could be implemented with law students, and if they didn’t work, reflected and tried a different strategy. It was fascinating!” Kithmini says.
This career change came with a learning curve – Kithmini was expected to teach in English and one of Sri Lanka’s official vernaculars, Sinhala. She also had to confront a level of stage fright.
“It was very challenging, because it was the first time I had to learn the legal jargon in Sinhala language, even though it is my mother tongue,” Kithmini says.
I had never taught anything before. It was terrifying at first – you are in this big hall and there are 200 students. When I looked at their faces, some looked interested, some didn't look that interested, and some looked confused – and that confused me!
“But I enjoyed it a lot, because the students were nice.”
She also worked as a student counsellor, where she began to notice a pattern in the challenges her students were facing; many were struggling with English language difficulties, their background, or feelings of failure or not fitting in. Kithmini realised there was a gap in the system, and students were falling through it.
In Sri Lanka’s state-funded legal education institutions, admission is based on a standardised score. The formula accounts for the district a student hails from, the facilities available to them, and whether the area is rural or urban. This system maintains equitable access, ensuring high achieving students from diverse socioeconomic backgrounds can access legal education.
However, Kithmini found that once they start university, these students face additional barriers to study and are less likely to pursue legal careers once graduating.
“It was definitely not about their talent or ability. Some were ranked first from their district, or even first in the country, but there's something that's hindering them from achieving what they desire,” she says.
“Through my exposure to educational theories during the teaching course, I got to experiment with different teaching and learning strategies with students – I wanted to explore this more. I thought as lecturers, there was something more that we could do to help students thrive.”
Kithmini knew that there were limited resources in Sri Lanka for undertaking the kind of interdisciplinary study she was interested in – one that brought together legal education and the education discipline, so she started looking for opportunities abroad.
She connected with Maya Gunawardena, an Assistant Professor at the UC Faculty of Education and was fortunate to receive full support from the three Sri Lankan State universities that offer legal education for her study – they recognised it was an important, needed, and novel interdisciplinary research effort.
In 2022 , She completed her first semester remotely from Sri Lanka, moved to Canberra in June and within a week, had to present her introductory seminar.
“My research was based on the idea that equity isn’t just limited to access,” Kithmini says
“We need to understand that it isn’t just about who we let into the system, but whether they have the opportunity to fully engage, contribute or grow within the system and whether the education they receive allows them to achieve what they desire.
My research focused on identifying educator’s views about equity, what barriers exist, and what strategies educators propose to address these barriers.
Kithmini flew through her first semesters of research, driven by pure passion for her chosen topic. That was until the second twist in her journey – halfway through her second year, she discovered that she was pregnant.
“I was collecting data for the study when I found out … and I was terrified,” Kithmini says. “I never would have anticipated that I would be having a baby while doing a PhD.”
Deciding to forge ahead with her research, Kithmini dealt with the challenges of pregnancy while collecting her data, on what had suddenly become a much tighter schedule. Luckily her passion in the early years paid off, she completed so much ahead of time, that when the unexpected happened, she was still able to keep up.
Her daughter, Kiana, was born in February 2024 and after 60 days of leave, including Saturdays and Sundays, she returned to UC. This was a challenging time for Kithmini, with no family around to help, and limited maternity leave provisions. She credits her husband with making it through.
"It was a really difficult time. At first, he took one day off each week so I could focus on my PhD. Then he switched to part-time, but that didn’t really work either. After that, I started going to the university in the evenings, after 6 pm, once he got home from work, but even that didn't work,” Kithmini says.
In the end, my husband decided to quit his job. It was such a whirlwind, and honestly a very stressful time for both of us.
For the final six months of her PhD, Kithmini spent seven days a week on campus to complete the write-up for her thesis.
“The day I submitted, I went home and saw daylight from my home for the first time in six months,” she says.
Reflecting on her PhD journey now, Kithmini admits that this time – and particularly the separation from her daughter – nearly broke her.
But now, the pace of her life has stabilised. Kithmini takes care of her daughter while working part-time as a Research Assistant with the Faculty of Education and this March, she officially receives her doctorate.
She credits her supervisors, Associate Professor Maya Gunawardena, Professor Naomi Dale, and Dr Janet Hope, whose guidance and support were instrumental in achieving this milestone.
She’s eager to keep working in academia (“I’ve found where I want to be”) but for now, she’s soaking up some time with her little one.
Her journey has taken her on paths she never expected – from lawyer to academic, student to mother – but it’s shown her just how much she is capable of.
“It made me realise how strong people are when they are put in difficult situations. Now I know that with support, I can handle it too.”
Story by Kelly White, photos supplied