About Us

Establishment

Rajarata University of Sri Lanka (Sinhala: ශ්‍රී ලංකා රජරට විශ්වවිද්‍යාලය, Tamil: இலங்கை ரஜரட்ட பல்கலைக்கழகம்) is a full-pledge National University with unitary, residential, and autonomous status. The main campus of the university is located in the beautiful surroundings of Mihintale, overlooking the Mihintale rock. This location is historically significant as the place where Buddhist Civilization was introduced. It is 10 kilometers from Anuradhapura, the ancient capital and center of the world-renowned hydraulic civilization. The University has six Faculties, four of which are located at Mihintale: Social Sciences and Humanities, Management Studies, Applied Sciences, and Technology. While the other two faculties, Agriculture and Medicine and Allied Sciences, are in Puliyankulama and Saliyapura, respectively. The Rajarata University of Sri Lanka celebrates its 26th anniversary in the year 2022.

The Rajarata University of Sri Lanka was established in 1995 by the Gazette Notification No: 896/2 of 7 November 1995 under the Section 21 of the Universities Act No. 16 of 1978. The University was ceremonially opened by then-President Chandrika Kumaratunga on 31st January 1996. The opening ceremony was also graced by the presence of the late Prime Minister Sirimavo Bandaranayake, the late Hon. Speaker Kiri Banda Ratnayake, Minister of Higher Education Richard Pathirana, Deputy Minister of Higher Education Wiswa Warnapala, Governor North Central Province Maithripala Senanayake, Chairman University Grant Commission Prof. Stanley Thilakaratne, the First Vice-Chancellor of the University Prof. W.I. Siriweera and the First Chancellor of the University, Dr. Jayantha Kelegama.
The University is the successor to the former Affiliated University Colleges at the Central, North-Western and North Central Provinces which were amalgamated to form the Rajarata University on the recommendations made by a committee appointed by the Hon. Minister of Education and Higher Education in 1995. The Rajarata University of Sri Lanka was established as the eleventh National University in the country.

Affiliated University College

Having examined the Social variables encountered by Sri Lanka in the two decades 1970 and 1980, the then government decided to establish Technical and Affiliated University colleges to provide higher education opportunities for youth who are qualified but deprived of University education. In the late 1980s, the Ministry of Higher Education operated a network of twenty-seven technical colleges and affiliated colleges throughout the country. Courses led to national diplomas in accountancy, commerce, technology, agriculture, business studies, economics, and manufacture.
However, following the recommendation of the Committee on Affiliated University Colleges in 1994, nine Affiliated University Colleges which were in various provinces of the country were merged to form two National Universities, namely the Rajarata University of Sri Lanka and the Sabaragamuwa University of Sri Lanka. Affiliated University Colleges which were in Central, North-Western and North Central Provinces, were merged to form the Rajarata University of Sri Lanka. However, the Affiliated University Colleges of Kuliyapitiya and Makadura in the North-Western province, which consisted of two academic sections namely, Home Science and Nutrition and the Agriculture, originally affiliated to the Kelaniya and Peradeniya University, were amalgamated and named as the Wayamba Campus of the Rajarata University of Sri Lanka in accordance with the section 18 and 47(1) of the Universities Act. No 16 of 1978 and Campus Board Ordinance No. 03 of 1995.

Two Faculties were set up to form the Wayamba Campus of Rajarata University viz. the Faculty of Agriculture Science and the Faculty of Applied Sciences, each with three Departments of study. The Faculty of Agriculture Science is comprised of the Department of Plantation Management, Horticulture Sciences & Food Technology and Agriculture Engineering, while the Faculty of Applied Sciences constituted the Department of Mathematical Sciences, Industrial Management & Computer Studies, and Nutrition & Community Resources Management. Later in 1998/1999, the University Grant Commission appointed a committee headed by Prof. H.P.M. Gunasena, a former Rector of the Wayamba Campus, to evaluate the possibility of establishing a national level University in the North-western Province. According to the recommendation of this Committee, the Wayamba University of Sri Lanka was established on 01st October 1999. The Rajarata University lost its Agriculture Faculty with the commencement of the Wayamba University. In the year 2001, however, a new Agriculture Faculty of the Rajarata University was incepted at Puliyankulama premises close to Anuradhapura city and about thirteen kilometers away from Mihintale where the administration building complex and other sister faculties are located.

The Central Province Affiliated University College (CPAUC) in Polgolla, located 140 km from the main campus at Mihinthale, was amalgamated to the Rajarata University as its Faculty of Applied Sciences. Following this amalgamation, the immediate task of the Faculty of Applied Sciences was to upgrade all the students of the CPAUC who had successfully completed their diploma requirements, to the graduate level. Consequently, the Faculty of Applied Sciences was inaugurated on 10 January 1997 to commence the third-year degree programme with a batch of 102 students, who graduated in 1998. The first batch of students who were directly sent by the University Grant Commission to follow the three-year degree programme was enrolled in November 1997. After functioning for nearly 10 years at Polgolla, the Faculty of Applied Sciences was relocated to the main campus at Mihinthale on 16 January 2006 upon completion of a new Faculty complex.

The Rajarata University of Sri Lanka

At its inception, the Rajarata University had only four faculties, namely the Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, Faculty of Management Studies, Faculty of Agriculture, and Faculty of Applied Sciences. However, later in 2006, the Faculty of Medicine and Allied Sciences was established, and most recently, in 2017, the Faculty of Technology was established as the sixth Faculty of the University. In 2022, the University marked its 26 years of existence, and it remains devoted to its mission of producing innovative and capable intellectuals who can face the challenges in an ever-changing world.
Since the University's establishment in 1995, three Chancellors and six Vice-Chancellors have served the University. The first Vice-Chancellor of the University was Prof. V.I. Siriweera served between 1996-2002. Since then, Prof. K. Wijerathne, Prof. Gamini Samaranayake, Prof. K.A. Nandasena, Prof. Ranjith Wijewardana, and Prof. B.A. Karunarathne have served as the Vice-Chancellors of the University from 2002 to 2021. The present and the first female Vice-Chancellor of the University is Prof. G.A.S. Ginigathdara, a Professor in Agricultural Systems in the Faculty of Agriculture.

Over the last 26 years, the University has developed rapidly in terms of physical resources, human resources, and the student enrollment has doubled. The facilities of the University include Laboratories, computer centers, administrative buildings, libraries, lecture halls and hostels of residence for students, staff residences for academic, clerical, and other grades of university employees. The University is a residential university and thus provides hostel facilities for all the internal students except those who are residing within 40 kilometers of the University. Currently, the University has 13 halls of residence that can accommodate approximately 5000 students. Other infrastructure facilities include playgrounds (for cricket, hockey, and rugby), Gymnasium, swimming pool, open-air theatre, University Health Centre, 01 Teaching Hospitals serving the needs of the Faculties of Medicine, and 01 Guest House at Mihintale.
Today, the University provides a wide range of disciplines to its undergraduates and postgraduate students. This includes, among others, Agriculture, Commerce and Management, Computing and Technology, Humanities, Social Sciences, Science, and Medicine. The six Faculties are comprised of 42 Departments of Studies and offer 31 Bachelor’s Degrees for internal students, three External Degrees for off-campus students, and 12 postgraduates’ programs for graduates’ students. Currently, there are about 7000 on-campus undergraduates, 800 postgraduates, and 3,500 off-campus students who follow the External Degree programs. The academic staff of the University comprised of about 30 Professors, 150 Senior Lectures, 120 Lectures, 160 other academic staff members, including temporary academic staff. The total academic and non-academic of the University is about 950.