15 February 2022 12:10 am Views - 1043
The Alumni Association of the University of Colombo which is the apex Alumni Body of the University of Colombo completes 40 years this year since its formation in 1982.
The Alumni Association of the University of Colombo was a special initiative of the Vice Chancellor at the time, Professor Stanley Wijesundera who believed that a formalized Alumni Body was essential for the University of Colombo.
Given Professor Stanley Wijesundera’s interest in seeing that this Alumni body stays strong and closely connected with the University for an infinite future, it was Professor Wijesundera’ s concept to include the Vice Chancellor as the Ex-Officio President of the Association.
The Flagship project of the Alumni Association was the construction of a (4) four story Hostel Complex for Female Undergraduates at Bullers Lane, Colombo 7. and was handed over in 1996 to the then Vice Chancellor Prof. W.D. Lakshman by the then President of the Association the Late Mrs. Sujatha Jayawardena. This Hostel complex which accommodates more than 400 students at a time has served the University of Colombo for more than 25 years.
The Alumni Association has presently taken up the task of constructing a 50 Metre Professional Swimming Pool for the University of Colombo and with the receipt of the detailed architectural plans recently, is set to commence work in the near future.
In addition to these mega Projects, the Alumni Association of the University of Colombo serves as an important conduit between the Alumni, University of Colombo and its Student population and in the past 40 years has rendered immeasurable service to these stakeholders. Other Projects include Friend and Guide Schemes, Granting Scholarships, Professional Development Programmes, Language Programmes; Annual Events such as the Sujatha Jayawardena Memorial Oration, the operation of the University of Colombo Bookshop and other networking, professional and academic development events.
The Past Presidents of the Alumni Association were Mr. Tissa Devendra, Mrs. Sujata Jayawardena, Mr. Yogendra Duraiswamy, Dr. Dudley Gunasekera, Mr. J. Charitha Ratwatte, Mr. Thilak Karunaratne, Mrs. Ramanee Amarasuriya, Mr. P.W.Senaratne and Mr. Lakshman Keerthisinghe and presently, Mr. Rajeev Amarasuriya is the President.
The first event for the 40th Anniversary Celebrations will be the launch of the new re-vamped Website and Membership portal of the Alumni Association that will take place on Tuesday, 15th February 2022 at the College House, University of Colombo, with the Chief guest, former Vice Chancellor of the University of Colombo and Foreign Minister Hon. Prof. G. L. Peiris.
All graduates, post-graduates and all those who have completed a course at the University of Colombo are Associate Members of the Alumni Association and are encouraged to up-date their information on the Alumni Membership Portal that will be launched on Tuesday.