Uva Wellassa University

Having issued the Gazzet to establish Uva Wellassa University on June 01, 2005, the academic activities of the first intake of students were commenced on August 07, 2006. Since the inception, the university dedicates to provide higher education to the young generation at undergraduates, postgraduate and extramural levels. Hence, in designing and developing the curricular two important concepts namely (a) value addition to national resources and (b) promoting entrepreneurship have been inculcated in all degree programmes, irrespective of the discipline of interest. 

With the aim of producing professional graduates, who meet the requirements of the industry, all undergraduates are provided with “Essential Skills Development” and “Broad General Education” as core curricular courses together with other disciplinary based courses. Given this design of the curricular, there is a high demand for our graduates in the industry; and at present the employability rate reaches 80%, on average, within a short time period.

Vision and Mission 
The vision of the university is “to be the centre of excellence for value addition to the national resources base” whilst the mission is “to produce well-rounded, employable, technocratic and entrepreneurial graduates equipped with knowledge, skills, abilities and attitudes to make outstanding contribution to the national and global development whilst working as a one to provide world class education with a strong emphasis on value addition to the national resources”. In achieving the vision, the university relies on the human capital, technology/improved resources and the culture that has been developed so far. 

Uniqueness 
Uva Wellassa University has its own-unique features and practices, and more importantly, these practices have a significant influence on development of the university. For example, the university has a centralised resources utilization system whenever and wherever applicable and therefore, all most all physical resources and services are shared by all faculties. The medium of delivery of all programmes is English. Besides, all Sinhala students learn the Tamil language whereas all Tamil students learn Sinhala language, as the second national language, respectively. The university premise is free of posters, banners or cut-outs. Academic activities of all degree programmes are commenced at once for all faculties and the examinations are also conducted within a same time period. All academic, research and development, and administration processes have been developed and aligned in a way that the undergraduates obtain required knowledge and develop skills in the learning and growing process. Students are encouraged to develop relationships with external organizations during their stay at the university providing various opportunities and also it is their responsibility to help uplift the image of the university. These good practices have a direct and positive influence in the productivity and efficiency of the university development and at the same time it draws the attention of the outsiders frequently. 

Faculty of Animal Science and Export Agriculture
Among the four faculties of the university, The Faculty of Animal Science and Export Agriculture was one of the three faculties established at the inception. The mission of the faculty is “to excel in teaching and learning, research and outreach activities in undergraduate, postgraduate and extramural programmes emphasizing value addition to the agricultural and allied resources through scientific and emerging technological approaches”. All teaching and learning activities of the undergraduates are developed and promoted, but special focus is given to agriculture and related sectors. The faculty has recognised livestock (farm animals), agricultural crops and aquatic resources as the basic agriculture and allied assets of the country. Thus, by providing scientific and technology based education, the faculty expects to contribute to value addition in agricultural resources. Further, the faculty focuses on development of entrepreneurs in agriculture and related areas.   Except for the undergraduate programmes, The Faculty of Animal Science and Export Agriculture has commenced Master of Philosophy (MPhil) degree programmes which could be completed by research. All MPhil programmes are two year full time programmes and the faculty expects to introduce some new master programmes in near future. As external programmes, Plant Tissue Culture, Floral Decoration & Dry Flower Production and Agribusiness Management are conducted currently based on demand; and some more programmes will be added soon. 

Three Pillars of Services 
Respecting to three pillars of services of the university academic staff members: teaching and mentoring, researching focusing value addition to national resources base and engaging in community services activities in particular focusing on the Uva region, the faculty expects to expand its services for a better future of the country. The faculty has thus developed collaborations with different organizations for achieving the target. Specifically to serve Uva region, establishment of Uva Agriculture Development Forum can be considered as important and all state and non-state sector institutions related to agriculture contribute for this forum. 

The 10th Generation of Agriculturists 
At the 10th General Convocation which was scheduled to be held on December 09 and 10 554 graduands were slated to receive the bachelor’s degrees covering 11 different disciplines of three faculties. Among them, 223 graduands were to be awarded with agriculture based degrees under the Faculty of Animal Science and Export Agriculture. These graduands have been provided with opportunities to develop relevant competency, so that they can give back a significant contribution with high caliber to the country and the beyond. The number of specialised graduations to be conferred for five different degree programmes is as follows: Bachelor of Animal Science – 46; Bachelor of Science in Export Agriculture – 50; Bachelor of Science in Tea Technology and Value Addition – 38; Bachelor of Science in Aquatic Resources Technology – 51; and Bachelor of Science in Palm & Latex Technology and Value Addition – 38.

Among these graduands of the Faculty of Animal Science and Export Agriculture, the best performances are recognized and awarded with Gold Medals such as Vice Chancellor’s Award for the Best Performance (in each degree programme), Mahinda Katugaha Gold Medal for the Highest Achiever from the Faculty of Animal Science and Export Agriculture, Mahinda Katugaha Gold Medal for the Highest Achiever from the Student Population of Uva Province/Faculty of Animal Science and Export Agriculture, Asha Weerasooriya Memorial Gold Medal for the Highest Achiever from the Department of Animal Science, and Asha Weerasooriya Memorial Gold Medal for the Highest Achiever from the Department of Export Agriculture. 

Overall, we expect our graduates to be leaders in adding value to the agricultural resources, both in products and services, and in turn contributing to the development of national economy. Finally, The Faculty of Animal Science and Export Agriculture extends its best wishes to all our graduands who were slated to receive their degrees at the 10th General Convocation of the Uva Wellassa University. Their service to the nation will undoubtedly be significant in future.