University of Ruhuna

History

The University of Ruhuna was established by Dr. Nissanka Wijeyeratne, the Cabinet Minister of Education & Higher Education at the time. It was opened on 1 September 1978 as Ruhuna University fulfilling a long-cherished desire of the people of the south to have a university in the region. It was housed in the Technical College buildings at Meddawatte, Matara with about 40 academics, 50 non-academics, and 275 students.

Inauguration of University college

The enactment of the Universities Act No. 46 of 1978 enabled the University Grants Commission to establish the Ruhuna University College.As a result, on August 27, 1978, the then Prime Minister of Sri Lanka Hon J.R. Jayawardene declared open the Ruhuna University College at Meddawatta, Matara, with Prof. Mervyn W. Thenabadu as its Director.

Campus to University status

The Ruhuna University College was shifted to the new premises in 1984 following which it was elevated to full university status.The new location was selected for the main campus at Wellamadama, two kilometers from Matara facing Matara-Kataragama main road. Professor G. P. Samarawickrama was first Vice-Chancellor of the University .Hon. Ronnie De Mel, inaugurating the University after being elevated from campus to University status in 1984. During the past 25 years, it has witnessed considerable progress and development in the academic, research and outreach spheres with substantial improvement in intellectual and infrastructure resources and has emerged as a leader of higher education in Sri Lanka.

To date, it has produced about 50,000 graduates and over 75 postgraduates. Around 100 postgraduate students are pursuing master and doctoral programs in disciplines that are of relevance to the development of the region in particular and the country in general.

Governance and administration

The University of Ruhuna is a state university and depends on the government for much of its annual grant, which is provided by the University Grants Commission (UGC). Due to this its administration is heavily influenced by the UGC. Undergraduate education is completely free. The Governance of the university is under the provisions of the Universities Act No. 16 of 1978 and the Universities (Amendment) Act No. 7 of 1985 along with its own by-laws.

The university's administration is based upon that of the former University of Ceylon consisting of a dual structure of bodies: the Council (formally known as the University Court which is the governing body) and the Academic Senate (academic affairs).

Much of the appointments to officers and faculty are carried out by these bodies, however on the recommendations of the UGC.

Officers of the university

The Chancellor is the head of the university and awards all degrees, although most duties are carried out by the Vice-Chancellor. The appointment is made by the President of Sri Lanka, to a distinguished person in academics, clergy or in the civil society. The chancellor is Rajakeeya Panditha Pallaththara Sumanajothi Nayaka Thero.

Day-to-day management of the University is undertaken by the Vice Chancellor, appointed by the President of Sri Lanka. The current Vice Chancellor is Gamini Senanayake.

Architectural landscape

A new building complex for the university was designed by the world-renowned architect Geoffrey Bawa and was constructed at Wellamadama with a unique architectural landscape. The RUC was shifted to the new premises in 1984, and it was elevated to full university status. Edward Reed & Beg Company designed the buildings and the Ballast Nedam Company of the Netherlands completed the construction at all three sites: Wellamadama, Mapalana, and Karapitiya with a unique architectural landscape. The 30-hectare site straddled three steep hills, the westernmost overlooking the sea and separated from the other two by a low-lying valley that carried the main road from Matara to Hambantota.Architects placed the vicechancellor's lodge and a guest house on the western hill and flooded the intervening valley to create a buffer between the road and the main campus. He then wrapped the buildings of the science faculty around the northern hill and those of the arts faculty around the southern hill, using the depression between them for the library and other central facilities.

Faculties

It has nine faculties: Agriculture, Engineering, Fisheries and Marine Sciences & Technology, Humanities and Social Sciences, Management and Finance, Medicine, Science, Graduate studies and Technology.

The university has responded to the needs of the country and established two new faculties — 'Management and Finance' and 'Fisheries and Marine Science' — the first of its kind in Sri Lanka. Thus, the university has as many faculties as the University of Peradeniya, the largest in Sri Lanka.

The main campus is at Matara. The faculties of Engineering and Medicine are at Hapugala and Karapitiya, about 5 km from Galle city center. The Faculty of Agriculture is at Mapalana, 16 km north of Matara and 2 km south of Kamburupitiya.

Faculty of Agriculture

Faculty runs three BSc. degree programs; Agricultural Resource Management and Technology, Green, Technology, and Agribusiness management.

The following departments make up the Faculty of Agriculture:

Faculty of Engineering

The Faculty of Engineering is in Hapugala, Galle, outside of the city.

The following departments make up the Faculty of Engineering:

The curriculum at the Faculty of Engineering augments the engineering education with a due emphasis on Humanities, Social Engineering, and Management. It introduced the course unit system (semester system) among the faculties of Engineering in Sri Lanka.

The faculty was started in 1999 with 100 students. The first batch of students graduated in 2003. 1 July 1999 to 31 Dec. 1999 Professor Ratnajeevan Hoole (Professor of Electrical & Computer Engineering) chaired the “informal” Faculty Board that approved the complete syllabus for the faculty. Dr. H.H.J. Kirthisena was the first dean of the faculty and served from 1999 to 2001. Professor Lakshman Jayathilaka served as the second dean of the faculty from 2002 to 2003 and Dr. Kithsiri M. Liyange as the dean till 2007.

At present Dr. Chandana Perera serves as the dean. There are more than 800 students doing their studies in the faculty. In 2014, the intake was increased up to 225 per batch.

The faculty offers three bachelor's degree programs: Civil and Environmental Engineering, Electrical and Information Engineering, and Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering.

The following is a list of recent Faculty of Engineering students' achievements:

Department of Electrical and Information Engineering

The Department of Electrical and Information Engineering offers Electrical, Electronic, Telecommunication, Computer and Information Engineering under one specialization stream.

The department has three main laboratories: Electrical Machines and Power Electronic Laboratory, Electrical Measurements and Electronic Laboratory, and the Communication and System Engineering Laboratory. It is equipped with a separate computer resource center for specialized applications and research.

Dr. S.H.K.K Gunawickrama serves as the head of the department. The department has 4 senior lecturers and 13 lecturers. Most of the academic staff are on study leave doing their post-graduate degrees.

Department of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering

The department of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering offers Mechanical Engineering, Manufacturing Engineering(Production Engineering), Automobile Technology, Computer aided Designing and Engineering, Control and Robotics Engineering, and other technological specialties under one specialization stream.

Department research activities are offered at the undergraduate and post-graduate level.

The department has five main laboratories: Materials and Metallurgy Laboratory, Thermodynamics and Energy Laboratory, Fluid Mechanics and Process Engineering Laboratory, Applied Mechanics and Automobile Engineering Laboratory, and the Control, Automation, and CAD/CAM Laboratory. There is also an Engineering Workshop for graduate training in the use of industrial instruments. The department is equipped with a separate Computer Laboratory for CAD/CAM activities.

Dr. S. Baduge serves as the head of the department, which consists of 5 senior lecturers and 7 lecturers. Most of the academic staff members are on study leave doing their post-graduate degrees.

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering

The department of Civil and Environmental Engineering offers Structural Engineering and Construction Material,Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering,Water and Environmental Engineering,Infrastructure Development and Management and other technological specialties under one specialization stream.

Faculty of Fisheries and Marine Sciences and Technology

The following departments make up the Faculty of Fisheries and Marine Sciences and Technology:

Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences

The following departments make up the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences:

Faculty of Medicine

The Faculty of Medicine, University of Ruhuna is in Karapitiya, Galle. It is the only medical school in the Southern part of Sri Lanka.

It was established in 1980. It offers MBBS degree program and three Allied Health Sciences degree programmes — Bachelor of Science in Nursing, Bachelor of Science in Medical Laboratory Science and Bachelor of Pharmacy. There are over 125 full-time academic staff members in the faculty covering all the disciplines. In addition, the specialist staff of the Teaching Hospital, Karapitiya are working as extended faculty staff in teaching undergraduates. The Karapitiya Teaching Hospital, a well-known tertiary care hospital in the country, which serves as the main clinical training institute Faculty of Medicine of the University of Ruhuna.

It caters for postgraduate students in medicine and other related fields.

It is recognized as a training center by the Postgraduate Institute of Medicine, of the University of Colombo. Faculty of Medicine, University of Ruhuna attracts a considerable number of medical students to follow elective appointments, from many countries, particularly from European countries like Germany and United Kingdom.

The following departments make up the Faculty of Medicine:

Faculty of Science

The main vision of the Faculty of Science is to become a center of scientific and technological excellence nationally and internationally and serve the community in pursuit of this goal. At present, the faculty recruits 130 students for the Biological Science, 210 students for the Physical Science and 50 students for the Computer Science streams for every academic year. The selection of students for undergraduate courses is done by the University Grants Commission of Sri Lanka, based on the performance of students in the relevant General Certificate Examination (Advanced Level).

The faculty offers primarily undergraduate courses viz. the Bachelor of Science (B.Sc.) General Degree and Bachelor of Computer Science (BCS) General Degree of three–year duration and B.Sc. Special Degree of four-year duration. The undergraduate programme consists of a large number, of course, units offered by individual departments.

The faculty offers postgraduate degree programmes leading to the M.Sc., M.Phil, and Ph.D.

The Faculty of Science offers a Foundation programme, which offers course units on English (Intensive Course), Skills in Common Disciplines, and National Heritage, among others. This programme is provided as a preparation to the Bachelor of Science Degree and is mandatory. This programme carries three non-degree credits.

The Faculty of Science consists of six departments: Botany, Chemistry, Computer Science, Mathematics, Physics, and Zoology.

Department of Computer Science

The Computer Unit was established more than 30 years ago and The Department of Computer Science of the University of Ruhuna was established in 1997 fulfilling a long-standing need of the University. The Department of Computer Science and the Computer Unit are functioning as a common body to achieve their goals. The Department of Computer Science, established in 1997, was the first computer science department established in a Sri Lankan university.

The Department of Computer Science offers two main degree programs. The Bachelor of Computer Science (BCSc) degree program is an out-come of an enormous effort of the staff of the Department of Computer Science. One of the prime objectives of this degree programme is to prepare the undergraduates for a career in Computer Science and Information Technology, which is one of the major driving forces of the economic development of Sri Lanka. Students admitted to the program will pursue a full-scale Computer Science programme of three years leading to the degree of Bachelor of Computer Science (General). Based on the performance, a limited number of students will be selected to study an extra year leading to the degree of Bachelor of Computer Science (Special). One of the prime objectives of the special degree is to offer in-depth knowledge in selected areas of computer science for those who wish to pursue an academic and/or research careers.

The department also offers a BSc in Computer Science to Physical Science students who are following a Bachelor of Science degree program. The duration of the Bachelor of Science General Degree Course is three academic years (six semesters).

Faculty of Technology

The Faculty of Technology has been officially established under the gazette notification issued on 26.04. 2016. The new faculty will be located at Kamburupitiya, close to the Faculty of Agriculture, however, it will be temporarily located at the premises of Faculty of Science until the buildings, which are under construction, are completed. The students will be admitted in 2016 for two-degree programmes, Bachelor of Engineering Technology (BET) and Bachelor of Information and Communication Technology (BICT). The students for Bachelor of BioSystem Technology (BBST) degree will be admitted in the following year. The total student intake would be 200 for the Faculty when it is fully established. The following departments make up the Faculty of Technology:

Research

There is much research going on in University of Ruhuna. Most is with other universities, government organizations, semi governmental organizations and non-governmental organizations. The research is funded by both Sri Lankan and foreign entities.

Publications

The University of Ruhuna publishes some of the key academic journals in the country.

Library

The main of the University of Ruhuna is at the Wellamadama campus. Agriculture, Medical and Engineering faculty libraries are at the Mapalana, Karapitiya, and Hapugala campuses. There is also an Allied Health Sciences faculty library.It is one of the legal deposit in Sri Lanka

The library holds about 200,000 books and about 300 journals (foreign and local). These resources are available in print and electronic formats. Services include reference, lending, interlibrary loan, current awareness services, workshops and maintaining library website with links to resources for which the library have subscribed as well as those available free. The library website also provides access to the CD collection and the Online Public Access catalog. According to library statistics, annual circulation of resources is more than 123,000.

Faculty Students' Unions

According to the amended University Act of 1988, Section 26, students of each faculty can form the Faculty Union of all students of that faculty. The main objective of this Union is to promote academic actions of the student population and to work for the advancement and welfare of the students and the faculty.

Sports

The university is equipped with a large gymnasium which is the third best in Sri Lanka with seating capacity for 3000. Training facilities for many indoor sports activities are available here for students after 12.00 p.m. every weekday. These include:

The university playground was commissioned in 1998 and outdoor facilities for following sports are available here.

The department of physical education provides sports equipment to students for games organized by the university and for training sessions free of charge.University of Ruhuna a participator of Sri Lanka University Games.The Sri Lanka University Games are a multi-sporting event held between public universities in Sri Lanka.

Financial Aids

Each year 10 needy students from Civil and Environmental Engineering program are entitled for a special scholarship sponsored by Ceylon Steel Corporation