The 17th Sujata Jayawardena Memorial Oration will be delivered at 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday, November 29, at the BMICH, by former Central Bank Governor Deshamanaya Dr. Indrajit Coomaraswamy, on the topic ‘Economic Crisis: Where are we and where do we go from here?’

The Annual Sujata Jayawardena Memorial Oration, being a premier annual event of the University of Colombo, is hosted for the 17th consecutive year by the Alumni Association of the University of Colombo, in memory of its illustrious past President, the late Sujata Jayawardena, who rendered immense service to the University
of Colombo.

Speaking on the oration, University of Colombo Vice Chancellor Senior Professor H.D. Karunaratne said, “Crisis is a soul of capitalism: visionary leadership and art of policymaking can create it to be a golden opportunity; listening to economists is the only way of coming out from an economic crisis. The University of Colombo looks forward to the 17th Sujata Jayawardena Memorial Oration on this very apt topic by Deshamanaya Dr. Indrajit Coomaraswamy, a most eminent and reputed expert in this area.”
University of Colombo Alumni President Rajeev Amarasuriya speaking about the upcoming Oration said, “Many thought the pandemic was the worst that could have happened and then we were struck by the economic crisis and the light at the end of the tunnel is still defying us. It is all the more important therefore to get back to basics, objectively assess where we are and chart a course to where we go from here and there is no better person to speak on this topic than Deshamanaya Dr. Indrajit Coomaraswamy, who we warmly welcome from London to deliver
this oration.”    

The past orators have been Prof. Chandra Wickramasinghe, Jayantha Dhanapala, Robert O. Blake Jr., Judge C.G. Weeramantry, Vidyajothi Prof. Arjuna Aluwihare, Lalith Weeratunga, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, Mahinda Samarasinghe, Dr. P.B. Jayasundara, Prof. Sudarshan Seneviratne, Emeritus Prof. Carlo Fonseka, Ranil Wickremesinghe, Chinese Ambassador Yi Xianliang, Indian High Commissioner Taranjit Singh Sandhu, Tony Weerasinghe and Prof. Neelika Malavige.

This oration is organised with the support of the Alumni Corporate Partners LOLC Group and Akbar Brothers Group.
All those interested in participating in this year’s oration are requested to connect with the Alumni Association by calling 071-9273115/071-7289014 or emailing [email protected]