UNIVERSITY OF ,

NEWSLETTER

Volume 4, Number 2. May 2011

Let us celebrate “Shri Sambuddhatva Jayanthi” 2600 at the

Editorial “International ranking” is a topic much debated among Sri Lankan academics today, as universities in Sri Lanka strive towards climbing the ranking ladder. The MOHE has promised to allocate funding towards achieving this goal and university administrators wonder how best to utilize the funding in achieving it. On 28 January 2011, a historic meeting was held at the University of Colombo, Faculty of Graduate Studies auditorium, to discuss how best to utilize these funds. Academics and administrative officers attached to the University of Colombo participated in this important meeting to discuss the goals, objectives, strategies and activities in the proposal developed by the University of Colombo.

The Secretary of Higher Education, Dr. S.J. Nawaratne, indicated in his address that Sri Lankan Universities had been slow in responding to the emerging challenges of the world. He elaborated on the significance of changing our curricula to produce competent, skillful graduates.

Can a ranking system be developed meaningfully to evaluate multi-dimentional institutions such as a university as it entails so many variables? QS World University ranking, Times Higher Education (THE) ranking, Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU), 4 International Colleges and Universities (4ICU) and Webometrics are some ranking systems accepted worldwide. Each of these ranking systems has its own advantages and disadvantages.

QS World University ranking allocates 40% to academic reputation index (academic peer review), 10% to employer/recruiter review, 20% to student/faculty ratio, 20% to citation per faculty member and 5% each to the proportion of international faculty & international students. Not all universities have equal access to funds as funding depends on the strength of the economy of the country, industrial funding and alumni donations. QS ranking systems seem to be based on the performance relative to the investment which we believe is a positive indication of this evaluation. Times Higher Education ranking, on the other hand, allocate 30% to the teaching- learning environment, 30% to research-volume, income and reputation, 32.5% to citations-research influence, 2.5% to Industry income- innovations and 5% to International mix-staff and students. The details of the scoring system within the aforementioned broad categories are given in the diagram below. http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/world-university- Meeting on 28 January 2011

ARWU considers every university that has any Nobel laureates, field medalists, highly cited researchers, or papers published in Nature or Science. In addition, universities with a significant number of papers indexed by Science Citation Index- Expanded (SCIE) and Citation Index (SSCI) are also included. The main criticism about this method is its bias towards the natural sciences.

4CIU is based upon an algorithum that includes 3 unbiased web matrics extracted from 3 different search engines namely goggle page rank, yahoo inbound link and alexa traffic rank. The main aim of this ranking is to provide an approximate popularity ranking. Webometics too believes that the web presence reflects the activities of a university hence extract information from search engines in the ranking process. The drawback in these two methods is that it does not necessary measure the high academic standing but measures the commitment of the university towards web publications.

A cursory survey of these different ranking systems reveals that universities in the US and UK occupy the top positions. Another interesting factor to consider at this point is that the US spends 3.1% of its Gross Domestic product (GDP) on higher education whereas the average percentage of GDP spent on higher education in the world is 1.5%. The United Kingdom spends 1.3% of the GDP on higher education. There then appears to be an interesting correlation between state investment in Higher Education and ranking. With the increased government commitment towards higher education, we in the University of Colombo are committed to implement the activities in our corporate plan which embody the requirements of international ranking criteria.

Page 1 made for a library at the because it was HISTORY OF THE LIBRARY thought that the Ceylon Medical Library, which was not part of the University, would suffice, but it was not adequate for both staff and students. The departments had started their mini libraries since 1942, but they could rarely be made available to students, as there was no seating accommodation. When the new faculty of Medicine was established at Peradeniya, duplicates of books were transferred so the main collection was not affected. The Medical Library was housed in the Department of Public Health until it was moved to a section of the Medical Faculty building in 1956. The Medical Library is considered as the second oldest medical library in Asia and it is also the focal point of the Health Literature Libraries and Information Services (HELLIS) network and privileged as the WHO depository library.

When the need to continue science teaching was impressed upon the university, three of the Science taking along with them the collections of the departments. The Science Library existed in part as a general library and in part as departmental libraries until 1984, The present library building when all the departmental libraries and the general collection were merged to form the Science Faculty Library and re-located in the 4th th The origin of the library can be traced back to January 1921, when the and 5 floors of the Chemistry building. When the Chemistry University College was formally opened at College House in Department wanted the building back, the library was shifted to the Colombo. The nucleus of the library, housed in one of the rooms, was building vacated by the Physics Department where it still remains a collection of 2,500 valuable books on history, literature and oriental today. studies donated by Sir in memory of his late son A. Padmanabha. By 1966 the Colombo University Library had a book stock of 66,000 and the library spent a high proportion of the books fund on the Mr. R. S. Enright was the first university librarian appointed in 1925 undergraduate library. There was however an over-emphasis on the and served the university until his demise in November 1952. He Faculty of Medicine and natural sciences at the expense of other emphasized the need to have a proper classification system and faculties. As a result, the Social Sciences and the Humanities recommended the use of Dewey Decimal Classification (DDC) in Faculties which needed most expansion had to be satisfied with 1929. DDC has taken root in most of the university and other libraries purchases within a limited budget. Multiple copies of books were in Sri Lanka which proves that Mr. Enright was a person with vision. added and a rental library of text books was started with a grant from By 1939 the book stock had reached 27,000 volumes when the library the Asia Foundation which gained popularity as the students realized was shifted to a more spacious building named “Villa Venetia”. its usefulness.

In 1942, the was established by amalgamating Whenever changes occurred in the curriculum, it affected the the University College and , and a decision was taken collections of libraries. In 1952 when the decision was taken to to relocate the University of Ceylon at Peradeniya. Sir , transfer the university to the new site at Peradeniya the main the first Vice- of the University of Ceylon, had collections were shifted except the medical and science collections. recommended the construction of a new building in Colombo for its The same was true when the Law Faculty was shifted from library then housed in “Villa Venetia”, situated behind College House, Peradeniya to Colombo. In 1974 when the Faculties of Education of in spite of the decision to shift the entire University to Peradeniya, as three universities merged, the collections of Education books at he felt the new library “would serve a future University there”. Peradeniya, Vidyodaya and Vidyalankara libraries were transferred However, this did not materialize and the collection was shifted back to the University of Colombo. This created several problems in to College House when a decision was taken to demolish Villa Venetia terms of ownership marking, disorganization of card catalogues, to pave way for new constructions. shelf lists and shelving.

The decision to re-locate the university at Peradeniya stalled the At present, the library system of the University of Colombo consists development of the library at Colombo. The shift to Peradeniya halted of the Main Library, faculty libraries of Medicine, Science and midstream. The libraries of the original Faculty of Medicine, some Graduate Studies with a collection of around 400,000 volumes, departmental libraries in the Faculty of Science (Botany, access to several reputed electronic databases and, subscriptions to Mathematics, Physics) remained in Colombo. A second Faculty of international & local journals. The Main Library and the branch Arts was established in Colombo in 1963 making use of the abandoned libraries play a critically important role in supporting research within 'Race Course premises' to accommodate the large number of Arts the university and offer a range of services to undergraduate and students who had qualified for university admission but could not be postgraduate students, academic staff members, researchers and accommodated at Peradeniya. The collection of arts books was other professionals. However, limited space in the Medical and shifted to the Grand Stand of the Race course, and the science and law Science libraries hampers the services which can be provided to collections were housed in College House. undergraduates.

When the University of Colombo was established in 1967, the library ceased to be governed by the and became a separate library. The library was shifted to the National Pavillion now known as the 'Old Library Building' where it remained until the collection was shifted to the ground floor of the Law Faculty building in 1986 and to the present library building in 1999.

The history of the Medical Faculty Library goes back to 1870 when the Colombo Medical School was established which became the faculty of Medicine of the University of Ceylon in 1942. No provision was Old library building Page 2 Institute of Education, Zonal Education Offices, Provincial OUR STRENGTHS Education Offices, university libraries and other stakeholders such as the World Bank, GTZ, Unicef, etc. The National Education Research and Evaluation Centre (NEREC)

The National Education Research and Evaluation Center (NEREC)established in 2000 is the first national level research centre established to carry out research studies on education related issues in Sri Lanka. This centre was established with the assistance of the World Bank, General Education Project 2 and the Teacher Education and Teacher Deployment Project of the Ministry of Human Resource Development, Education and Cultural Affairs with the objective of providing advice to Education planners, educational testing, evaluation and training. Its vision is improving Education and training at the national and regional level by undertaking research, evaluation, development, dissemination activities and providing Director, NEREC lighting the oil lamp information services. The mission of NEREC is establishing an energetic, forward and outward looking educational research, evaluation, testing and training institution that has a national and regional profile. Catering to the local and foreign requests in the above areas is one of the major functions of NEREC. These studies are mainly sponsored by the Ministry of Education and Funded by the World Bank, GIZ, Unicef, etc.

NEREC has completed 27 national level research studies mainly in the national assessment of the achievement of students in Grade 04, Grade 08 and Grade 10 in Second National Language, Social Cohesion, Implementation of School Based Assessment and School Based Management. The findings of these studies were utilized by the Ministry of Education, Curriculum Developers and Policy Planners to improve the quality of . Experts Prof. Marie Perera presenting the findings of a NEREC from the World Bank, Dr. Tom Kellegan and Dr. Harsha Aturupane, and those from the Finance Commission have periodically reviewed research study the reports produced by NEREC and expressed their views and provided guidance to improve the quality of reports. The findings have been cited in many international studies and books published in the area of educational assessment.

At present, the Ministry of Education is taking rapid corrective actions to improve the standards of students in Key Stage II and the entry competency of junior secondary students, especially in subjects such as Mathematics, First Language, English Language and Science and Technology based on NEREC findings.

Resources

Since NEREC is a national level research centre, it draws on experts from the University of Colombo and other universities such as the University of Peredeniya, the Open , the and Eastern University. The National Institute of Education and Department of Examinations (National Evaluation Participants from MOE, NIE and Zonal Offices. and Testing Service) also provides their expertise in relevant areas of study. Presently, NEREC is planning to improve the technical NEREC Library capacity of national assessment with the assistance of the World Bank and the Ministry of Education. NEREC maintains a library for educational researchers. It has a large collection of Ph.D, Master of Philosophy and Master of Education Dissemination Seminars theses written by the students of the Faculty of Education. There are several books in the field of teacher education, curriculum Dissemination seminars were organized by NEREC at various development, and educational research available in the NEREC levels.The Ministry of Education, the National Institute of Education, library. Research students and academic staff of all universities use Educational Officers from zones and divisions and Provincial this library. Education Officers usually participate in the dissemination seminars. NEREC findings have led to corrective actions taken to promote the Although NEREC is a research centre, it has taken the initiative to learning achievement of students. The Primary Education conduct training programmes to cater to the requirements in the field Department of the Ministry of Education also organized several of research and testing. NEREC expects to strengthen its capacity in dissemination seminars and workshops at zonal and divisional level, the fields of research and training and with the continuing support of based on NEREC findings. Research reports produced by NEREC the Faculty of Education and the University of Colombo. are usually distributed to the Ministry of Education, the National

Page 3 are published in renowned refereed journals all over the Gamini Lakshman Peiris, world. He is the youngest ever member in the history of LL.B (Hon.)(Cey), D.Phil (Oxford), Ph.D (Colombo) the Faculty of Law to become the Professor of Law of the Vice- Chancellor (1988-1994) University of Colombo. He was a Rhodes Scholar of the University of Oxford from 1968 to 1971 and again at All Souls College of the University of Oxford from 1980 to 1981. He was also awarded Fellowships by the Universities of Oxford, Cambridge and London. He was a Visiting Fellow of the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies of the , distinguished Visiting Fellow of Christ College, University of Cambridge and SMUTS Visiting Fellow in Commonwealth Studies at the University of Cambridge during 1985-1986. He also held the position of Associate Member of the International Academy of Comparative Law in 1980 and Senior British Council Fellow in 1987. He was invited by many world renowned universities from various countries including the United Kingdom, Professor Gamini Lakshman Peiris assumed duties as the the United States of America, the Canada, Australia, Vice Chancellor of the University of Colombo during a India, Hong Kong, Switzerland, and the Netherlands. He turbulent period in Sri Lanka’s history when peace and has delivered many Orations in the name of many tranquility in the country was affected and it was in distinguished personalities and events. turmoil. Within a short period of his assuming the Vice Chancellorship in 1988, the out-going Vice Chancellor Professor Peiris was a member of many prestigious was murdered in the premises of the University of bodies in the country. He was, in the early 1990s, Colombo itself. In spite of these violent events and amidst appointed by His Excellency the President of the this turbulance, Professor Peiris gave academic and Republic of Sri Lanka to be the Vice-Chairman of the administrative leadership to the University of Colombo Youth Commission which was established to report on the and guided the affairs of the University until he resigned youth uprising in the country. He was also a member of the from university service to take up politics in 1994. Law Commission of Sri Lanka. While in University service, his expertise was sought after in the drafting of Professor Peiris is the only child born to the respectable the Constitution as well as in finding a political solution and distinguished family of Mr. Glanville Peiris and Mrs. to the national problem of the country. Lakshmi Chandrika Peiris in 1946. He had his education at St. Thomas College, Mount Lavania where he shone as a brilliant student. He entered the Faculty of Law of the University of Ceylon and obtained the Degree of Bachelor of Laws with First Class Honours, winning many awards and prizes, including the Gate Mudliyar Edmond Peiris Award. Having been absorbed into the Staff of the Faculty of Law, and being the proud winner of the prestigious Rhodes Scholarship, Professor Peiris proceeded in 1968 to As the Vice Chancellor of the University of Colombo, the University of Oxford, UK, to read for the D.Phil Professor Peiris gave importance to research and Degree. He was awarded the D.Phil Degree by Oxford promoted sustained research amongst academics. He University in 1971. He also earned the Degree of Doctor of also constantly encouraged University teachers to Philosophy from the University of Colombo in 1974. He broaden the dissemination of knowledge to include wider sections of the society. Thus, he promoted the conducting successfully earned these two Doctoral Degrees at the of Masters programmes and many extension programmes relatively young age of 28 years. in the University. He also helped in the development of physical and infrastructure facilities in the University. It After returning to the University of Colombo, Professor was during his time as Vice Chancellor that the Faculty of Peiris engaged in teaching and legal research. He has Management and Finance was established in the authored more than ten books in the field of law within a University of Colombo. very short period. His research articles, numbering more than thirty, on a variety of subjects in the field of law, This article was prepared by Mr. N. Selvakkumaran, including Law of Evidence and Criminal Procedure, Dean, Faculty of Law, University of Colombo. Administrative Law, Constitutional Law, and Land Law

Page 4 NEWS & EVENTS 2011 New Year Celebration Erasmus Mundus Project MAHEVA Scholarships 2011

The MAHEVA (MAn Health Environment biodiVersity in Asia) project aims to contribute to the strengthening cooperation between European Union Higher Education Institutions and Asia country Institutions, facilitating the mobility of students, researchers and academic staff through a scholarships scheme, curriculum development of the individuals, the transfer of know-how in international mobility and the exchange of best practices. A New Year celebration was held on 3 January 2011 at College House, under the patronage of the Vice-Chancellor Prof. Kshanika The project in which the University of Colombo is a partner has Hirimburegama.The whole University community, including decided to grant scholarships to the University of Colombo; Three Rectors, Deans and Directors of Institutes participaded in the undergraduate scholarships for Biological Science, 2 Masters and 2 celebration. Doctoral scholarships and 2 Trainings will be given to the University of Colombo. Masters and Doctoral level training will Seminar on Sports and Information Technology also be given to the University of Peradeniya and the Open University of Sri lanka respectively. This was finalized at the project meeting held in Cambodia and the Vice Chancellor participated in the meeting.

150th Brith Anniversary of Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore

This seminar was organized by the Department of Physical Education and the Sports Board of the University of Colombo in collaboration with the University of Colombo School of Computing recently at the Prof.V.K.Samaranayake Auditorium of the University of Colombo School of Computing.

Hon. C.B.Rathnayaka, Minister of Sports was the Chief Guest at this seminar. Hon. Thilanga Sumathipala , MP and former President of the Board and the Vice The University of Colombo Commemorated the 150th Birth Chancellor of the University of Colombo, Prof. Kshanika Anniversary of Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore in collaboration Hirimburegama were the Guests of Honor at this event. with the High Commissioner of India, the Ministry of Cultural & Arts Affaires, the Sarvodaya organization, the Rabindranath Tagore Mr. Senarath Alwis, Senior Instructor in Physical Education was the society in Sri Lanka and the Universities of Kelaniya and Sri chief co-coordinator of this seminar under the patronage of Jayawardhanapura. As part of the memorial events the University of Prof.Kshanika Hirimburegama, Vice Chancellor of University of Colombo hosted a memorial lecturer delivered Dr. Reba Som. Colombo and Mr.N.Selvakkumaran, Chairman-Sports Board and the Dean of the Faculty of Law.

Christmas Carrolls This Seminar was conducted by Prof. Gihan Wickramanayake, Director-UCSC, Dr. Ruwan Weerasinghe, Dr. H.A.Caldera, Dr. K.L.Jayaratne. Mr. Harsha Wijewardene and Mr. Premasara Epasinghe also delivered lectures.

There were about 200 participants who attended this seminar representing governing sports bodies and associations of Sri Lanka, the Armed Forces, the Police, Sports Ministry Officials, and Local Government Officials, Sports officials of Universities, Sports Officials of the Department of Education, Print & Electronic Media Personnel, and Officers of the National Youth Services Council.

The University of Colombo hosted Christmas Carrolls on 14 This was the first time that a Seminar on Sports and Information December 2010 under the patronage of the Chancellor, His grace Technology was organized in Sri Lanka and was able to gather the Rev. Dr. and the Vice Chancellor Prof. Kshanika cream of the top sports personalities under one roof. This was also the Hirimburegama. Students lead the audience in the singing of first time in the history of the University system in Sri Lanka that a traditional Carrolls. seminar of this kind was organized.

Page 5 NEWS & EVENTS Collaboration of IHRA-UOC with the Cisco Corporation and the Amritha University, Tamilnadu, India Academic Link between the University of Colombo, Sri Lanka and the University of Ljubljana, Slovenia IHRA-UOC established the local Cisco Networking Academy in collaboration with the Cisco Corporation and Amritha University, Tamilnadu, India. The IHRA-Cisco Networking Academy has already started its CCNA International Certificate programme and plans to offer Cisco Network Engineer CCNP Professional courses. Four instructors were trained in India using generated funds. These courses are the most advanced 100% online programmes and are highly subsidized by Cisco as well as by the IHRA-UOC. The UNDP- Sri Lanka Office is assisting to establish this Networking International Academy which is totally self financed. Similar Cisco Networking Academies are functioning in 165+ countries. Certificates issued by the IHRA-Cisco Networking Academy has International recognition, and qualified professionals are employed as Network Engineers.

IHRA-UOC signs a MOU The Vice-Chancellor of the University of Colombo and the Rector of the University of Ljubljana signed a Memorandum of Understanding IHRA-UOC recently signed an MOU with the Non-State sector on the 18 April 2011, at the University of Ljubljana to contribute International Educational Institute Business Management School towards the development of academic, scientific and cultural (BMS) to quality control some of the Graduate Diploma Courses cooperation between the two universities in the spirit of broadening the offered to Sri Lanka and the Maldives, with the recognition of already existing link between the Faculty of Social Work of the Edexcel and the University of Northumbria, UK. Officials of University of Ljubljana and the Department of Sociology, Faculty of Northumbria University and Edexcel, India-Subcontinent, Arts, University of Colombo. Prof. Ramanee Jayathilake, Head of the participated in this event. Sociology Department also participated in this event. An Annex to the Memorandum of Understanding was also signed on A workshop on Crime Scene Investigation and Forensic the same day specifying further collaboration between the Department Science of Sociology, Faculty of Arts, University of Colombo and the Faculty The IHRA-UOC conducted a one day workshop on “Crime Scene of Social Work, University of Ljubljana in continuing the joint Investigation and Forensic Science” in collaboration with the British collaborative programme that was started after the 2004 tsunami with High Commission and the Business Management School (BMS) at the need for professional social workers as outlined in the Letter of the British High Commission auditorium. The participants were Intent signed by the two Universities on the 13April 2005. selected from the Police Department, and the Associate As the first major task under the collaborative programme between the Dean/Development, Ms Julie Edgar, a Forensic Scientist, of the two universities, the Department of Sociology introduced a study Northumbria University, was the resource person. stream in Social Work to the students following the Sociology Special Degree programme. Six courses jointly designed by the Department of Sociology, University of Colombo and the Faculty of Social Work, Third Diploma awarding ceremony of IHRA-UOC University of Ljubljana are offered within the study stream. Up to now The Third Diploma awarding ceremony of the IHRA-UOC for four all the courses have been delivered by the visiting Professors from the Diploma courses was conducted on 26 March 2011 at the New Arts University of Ljubljana together with academics from the Department Theatre. The total number of Diploma recipients was 169, and most of of Sociology. There are 37 students in the Study Stream in all the three them were middle grade officers of the Police, the Health Sector, years and the first batch of students will be graduating soon. Security Forces, Development Officers, and non-state sector middle Contributing to Human Resource Development in the University of level managers. The Courses were Colombo, Mainly to support the independent sustainability of social Drug Abuse Management Studies (DDAMS) - Nr 04 work education, the University of Ljubljana offered two Ph.D Diploma in Health Promotion (DHP) - Nr 02 scholarships and currently one Lecturer from the Department of Diploma in Rural Development (DRDS)- Nr 02 Sociology and one Social Work Instructor attached to the Department Diploma in International Business (DIB) - Nr 01 & 02 of Psychological Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, are following the These Courses are highly subsidized, although the value addition to Ph.d programme at the University of Ljubljana. Two senior academics the middle level Knowledge-Workers of Sri Lanka is not visible to the from the Department of Sociology also had the opportunity to study authorities and auditing systems. social work education at the University of Ljubljana. Under the collaborative programme, student exchanges have also Relaxation Counseling Musico-Therapy program taken place. Thirteen students from the University of Colombo visited the University of Ljubljana for a one month intensive programme in The IHRA-UOC conducted a Relaxation Counseling Musico- social work and over the years students from the University of Therapy programme for Sri Lankan soldiers currently serving in the Ljubljana visited Sri Lanka for their practice placements under the North and East in collaborations with the Vanni Army Headquarters, supervision of the staff of the Department of Sociology. The Vavuniya. Around 300 soldiers participated in this 2 day programme Department of Sociology also assisted the Slovenian students to find held from 25-27 February. It was conducted on a request from the appropriate institutions to do their practice placement activities. authorities according to a suggestion from soldiers, and IHRA With the signing of the fresh MOU and the Annex, the two universities personnel volunteered considering the Social Responsibility of the would take efforts to achieve the envisaged objectives and further Institute. This programme is connected to the Diploma in Counseling strengthen the collaboration between the two universities. Psychology Course recently inaugurated on 27 March 2011 by this Institute recognising a grave social need. The main aim of this Diploma course is to produce Knowledge-Worker Professional Counselors to the country.

Page 6 NEWS & EVENTS CONTINUED Development of Infrastructure Facilities

Visiting Professor of Buddhism at the University of The University of Colombo has embarked on an ambitious Madras in Chennai visited the IHRA-UOC programme to improve its infrastructure facilities. The long felt need of constructing an examination hall, an auditorium and a separate building for the Faculty of Graduate Studies are some of the projects Madurai Bodhipala Thero, Visiting Professor of Buddhism at the that have been commenced as priority areas. Initial construction University of Madras in Chennai, visited the IHRA-UOC, and work of the building complex for the Faculty of Medicine has already participated in a training programme for 16 Buddhist monks who learn Tamil in the IHRA languages programmes. This was a begun and construction work in the building project for the Allied significant event in Sri Lankan culture as this was the first time that a Health Sciences Unit will commence in the near future. The Buddhist Thero from Tamilnadu, India, whose mother-tongue is University is planning to harness financial aid from external agencies Tamil, met student monks in an academic environment. At the end of for the successful implementation of these construction projects. the sessions, the staff of the IHRA-UOC offered Dana to the Sangha. The IHRA-UOC also commemorated the 40th year of its The project proposals have received UGC and Ministry approval and establishment as a University Institute through this ceremony . are at present awaiting the nod of the Committee of Planning and Development.

Donation of Books to the University of Jaffna These new projects will undoubtedly add value to the University portfolio and provide much needed space to accommodate modern facilities required to cater to a vast cross-section of students both local and foreign.

In connection with the launching of A Dictionary of Tamil Words in Proposed Library building: Faculty of Science Sinhala compiled by Dr. Sandagomi Coparahewa, Senior Lecturer/ Department of Sinhala and Mrs. Sarojini Arunachalam a group of Sinhala (Special) Undergraduates and staff members visited the More details of the proposed buildings are given on the University of Jaffna on 16 March 2011 and donated about 1000 back cover page. books to the University of Jaffna Library. This was the first time in the post-war situation that a group of academics and students from Foreign exposure to students at the Department of the Dept. of Sinhala, University of Colombo visited the University of International Relations Jaffna. This event also renewed academic and cultural relations between the two universities.

Guest Lectures at Department of International Relations

Members of the European Parliamentary delegation Thomass Mann M.P. Philippe Kamaris and others meeting with students following International Relations in the Board Room, Faculty of Arts for a presentation on EU in South Asia followed by a discussion on EU today on 26 February 2011.

His Excellency, Kunio Takahashi Dr. Paul M. Carter, Jr, Chief of Study in Germany delivering a guest lecture on the Political Affairs at the Embassy “Economic Miracle of Japan of the United States of America DAAD (German Academic Exchange Service) is one of the world's since World War II” for students delivering a guest lecture on largest and most respected intermediary organizations in the field of reading International Relations “US Foreign Policy” on 28 international academic cooperation. Scores of students, teachers, on February 8 2011 at the February 2011. All students researchers and scientists supported by DAAD have been able to gain Department of International reading for the Special Degree valuable experience abroad. A network of Branch Offices and Relations. in International Relations Information Centers is implementing projects in partnership participated. throughout the world. The details of the DAAD Liaison Office Colombo, can be obtained by emailing or by visiting www.daad.de

Page 7 COLOMBO UNIVERSITY NEWS

Some of the proposed buildings of the University of Colombo

Building complex for Faculty of Medicine University of Colombo Auditorium

Faculty of Graduate Studies Faculty of Science Canteen

Faculty of Management & Finance Allied Health Science Unit

Front elevation of the proposed Examination Building, University of Colombo

Inquiries...... DISCLAIMER Academic & Publications Branch e-mail : [email protected] While every effort is taken to ensure that the information University of Colombo, Telephone : 011-2586712 provided in this newsletter is correct and accurate, the Cumarathunge Munidasa Mawatha, Fax : 0115- 5355957 Colombo-03 Editors wish to inform the readers that neither they nor the publisher is responsible for any inaccuracy or lack of Editors: Pr of. Senaka Rajapakse Department of Clinical Medicine correctness in the information provided. The Editors also Prof. Thusitha Abeytunga Department of Chemistry wish to inform the readers that this is not an official document Ms.Dinithi Karunanayake Department of English which creates any rights or obligation, legal or otherwise, Mr. T.L.R. Silva Registrar’s Office binding the University of Colombo. Any one who wishes to act Legal Adviser : Mr. N. Selvakumaran Dean, Faculty of Law on the basis of information provided in this newsletter is advised hereby to contact the relevant authority for obtaining Type Setting & Art Work Mr. M. Sanka Padma Bandara : binding official information .

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