The Institution of Colombo (also known as Colombo University or UoC) is a Sri Lankan public research university with its main campus in Colombo. It is Sri Lanka's oldest modern higher education institution. Natural, social, and applied sciences, as well as mathematics, computer science, and law are all areas of expertise. It is regarded as one of South Asia's top ten universities. The University of Colombo, Sri Lanka's oldest institution, is a huge structure spanning over fifty acres of valuable property in the city's centre. With its historical architecture, "College House" (the university's administrative centre) is today a well-known icon in the city.The University of Colombo aspires for academic excellence in all areas of study, in keeping with its motto "Buddhih Sarvatra Bhrajate," which means "Wisdom bursts out everywhere." The University's Medical and Science Faculties are not only the oldest in Sri Lanka's university system, but they are also perhaps the best in terms of faculty and resources. A wide range of extracurricular activities are available on campus to enrich student life. The magnificent playground and contemporary gymnasium provide athletes with the opportunity to fully utilise and develop their abilities. Meanwhile, the New Arts Theater is frequently used to showcase our students' dramatic and musical abilitiesThe University's location provides students with all of the benefits of a "metropolitan university," including quick access to international information/resource centres, libraries, theatres, sports facilities, and other amenities. Today, the Institution of Colombo, which has a proud 115-year history, continues to strive to preserve its status as a "metropolitan university with a modern and international viewpoint and spirit."

University of Colombo Campus

In the Throne Speech of 1967, the announcement of the establishment of a separate university in Colombo was made in Parliament. On the proposal of the National Council of Higher Education, the Minister of Education and Cultural Affairs developed the appropriate legislation under section 34 of the Higher Education Act No. 20 of 1966. The new university, which began on October 1, 1967, with the Colombo Campus as its nucleus, had almost 5000 students studying for degrees in arts, law, science, and medicine, as well as a teaching staff of nearly 300. The university structure was revised by the University of Ceylon Act No. 1 of 1972, which superseded the Higher Education Act of 1966. The four autonomous universities established by that time (University of Ceylon, Peradeniya, University of Ceylon, Colombo, Vidyodaya University, and Vidyalankara University) and the Ceylon College of Technology at Katubedda became campuses of a single university known as the University of Sri Lanka. Senate House, the organization's headquarters, was in Colombo. This partnership did not endure long. With the passage of the Universities Act on February 16, 1978, university status was restored to the campuses, and the University of Sri Lanka's Colombo Campus has renamed the University of Colombo, Sri Lanka.

University of Colombo Library

The University of Colombo library is a centrally-managed network of university libraries that includes the main library and two branch libraries. Since its component Colombo Medical College library was founded in 1870, it is the country's oldest academic library. It is one of the country's largest libraries, with over 400,000 items. The library has two branches, one in the Faculty of Medicine and the other in the Faculty of Science. A great number of interesting papers and books, including a huge palm-leaf manuscript collection, are housed in the Ceylon Collection and the Rare Collection.

University of Colombo Overview

The university is a public institution that receives most of its financing from the federal government through the University Grants Commission (UGC). As with all other public universities in Sri Lanka, the UGC proposes its vice-chancellor to the President of Sri Lanka for an appointment and makes administrative staff appointments. "Buddhih Sarvatra Bhrajate," its slogan in Sanskrit, meaning "Wisdom bursts out everywhere." The university has seven colleges, 43 academic departments, and eight auxiliary institutes, with a student population of about 11,000 students. The majority of faculties provide undergraduate and graduate degrees, with some also offering courses for non-students and distance-learning programs.

University of Colombo Organization

There are seven faculties of study at the University of Colombo. There are 41 academic departments in these faculties, and it also has a small campus and a computer school with five academic departments of its own. There are also six institutions and five linked centers at the university. Only four of the existing faculties were there from the outset, namely the Faculty of Law, the Faculty of Medicine, the Faculty of Education, and the Faculty of Science. Three more faculties have been added since then. The University of Colombo School of Computing, which was founded in 2002, is the most recent addition. Six postgraduate institutes are connected with the university, three of which are on campus. The Postgraduate Institute of Medicine, for example, is the country's only medical doctor specialty training facility. The Colombo Planetarium and the Colombo Observatory are both located on the university's main campus.

University of Colombo History

Ceylon Medical College

The University of Colombo has its roots in the Ceylon Medical School, which was founded in June 1870 and was the second European medical school to open in South Asia. The institution was elevated to the rank of a college in 1880 and became the Ceylon Medical College, allowing it to offer the Licentiate in Medicine and Surgery (LMS) until the late 1940s. When holders of the college's license were able to practise in Great Britain in 1889, the General Medical Council of the United Kingdom recognised the college.

Ceylon University College

A group of the western educated elite, including Sir Ponnambalam Arunachalam, Sir James Peiris, and Sir Marcus Fernando, founded the Ceylon University Association (CUA) in 1906. In 1913, the government agreed to establish a University institution in response to the CUA's constant requests. Arguments over the nature and status of the institution to be found, its location, and the outbreak of World War I halted the process until 1920, when the government purchased the Regina Walawwa, later known as College House, for the purpose of establishing the University College on Sir Edward Denham's recommendations.

University of Ceylon

The Ceylon University Ordinance No.20 of 1942, approved by the State Council of Ceylon amidst World War II and the prospect of the Japanese invasion, founded the University of Ceylon on July 1, 1942. The University of Ceylon was formed by combining the Ceylon University College with the Ceylon Medical College, with its administration situated at College House and the power to offer its own degrees. The University College's Arts and Science departments were elevated to faculties. The Medical College became a college of medicine, and Cruden House was home to a new faculty of Oriental Studies. The university library was located on Queens Road's Villa Venezia. Three halls of residence, Jayatilleke and Arunachalam, situated at Guildford Crescent and Queens Hall (Q Hall or Women's hostel), as well as two more hostels named Brodie and Aquinas, were supplied at the Union Hostel. Departments of Law and Agriculture, as well as the Department of Veterinary Science, were shifted out of Colombo to Peradeniya in 1949 after the construction of new buildings, but the Department of Law was returned back to Colombo in 1965. Later in 1952, the Arts and Oriental Studies faculties, as well as parts of the university administration and library, were relocated to Peradeniya. Jayatilleke and Arunachalam halls of residence were also shifted to Peradeniya. In 1965, a faculty of engineering that had been founded in 1950 was moved to Peradeniya.