Universities in Sri Lanka

This is a list of Universities in Sri Lanka. The Sri Lankan law on publicly financed universities, the University Grants Commission 15 Sri Lankan universities and other education institutions, as higher education institutions.

The origins of the modern university system in Sri Lanka dates back to 1921 when a university college, the Ceylon University College was established at the former premises of Royal College Colombo affiliated to the University of London. The college provided course of study in art and humanities ,science and medicine prepared undergraduates for examination of London university. However, the begin of modern higher education in Ceylon was in 1870 when the Ceylon Medical School was established followed by Colombo Law College (1875), School of Agriculture (1884) and the Government Technical College (1893). In 1942 the first university was established as the University of Ceylon with several campuses island wide, Colombo (established 1942), Peradeniya (established 1949), Vidyodaya (established 1959), Vidyalankara (established 1959) and Katubedda (established 1972).Vidyodaya and Vidayalankara were established under the Vidyodaya and Vidayalankara University Act No 45 of 1958. The University of Ceylon was modelled on the Oxbridge formula, at its inception accommodated only 904 students, which later expanded to cover a number of universities and it remained as an elite-oriented university as stated by Sir Ivor Jennings, catered to a small number of students and exclusively residential. It was dissolved in 1972 to establish the University of Sri Lanka. Jaffna campus was added to the university of Sri Lanka in 1974.

The change of the government in July 1977 led to dismatling of the single university apparatus with the plan of establishing independent universities.With the promulgation of the Universities Act. No 16 of 1978, state university status was restored to the 6 separate campuses. University Grants Commission (UGC) was also created to plan and coordinate the state university education. After that, a number of state universities were created. All these state universities are registered under the University Grants Commission, but a few come under the auspices of ministries other than the Ministry of Higher Education, in which the UGC is a part of.Most of the state universities depend on funds given by the University Grants Commission, as it is their primary and sometimes only source of funding. Therefore, the UGC has a direct control over these universities and administer the undergraduate intake. The UGC is subordinate to the Ministry of Higher Education

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