University of Ruhuna
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| File:University of Ruhuna logo.jpg | |
| Motto | Paññāya Narānaṅ Ratanaṅ (Pali) |
|---|---|
| Type | Public |
| Established | 1978 |
| Chancellor | Venerable Pallattara Sumanajothi Thero |
| Vice-Chancellor | Prof. Gamini Senanayake |
| Students | 6366 |
| Postgraduates | 100 |
| Location | , |
| Website | http://www.ruh.ac.lk/ |
The University of Ruhuna (Sinhala: රුහුණ විශ්වවිද්යාලය Tamil: ருகுண பல்கலைக் கழகம்) is a university in Matara, Sri Lanka. It was founded in 1978 and is organized in seven faculties. The faculties of Engineering and Medicine are in Galle.
Dr. Nissanka Wijeyeratne
History
The University of Ruhuna was established by Dr. Nissanka Wijeyeratne, the Cabinet Minister of Education & Higher Education at the time.[1][2] It was opened on 1 September 1978 as Ruhuna University fulfilling a long-cherished desire of the people of the south to have a university in the region. It was housed in the Technical College buildings at Meddawatte, Matara with about 40 academics, 50 non-academics and 275 students. A new building complex for the university was designed by the world-renowned architect Geoffrey Bawa and was constructed at Wellamadama with a unique architectural landscape. The RUC was shifted to the new premises in 1984, and it was elevated to full university status.
During the past 25 years, it has witnessed considerable progress and development in the academic, research and outreach spheres with substantial improvement in intellectual and infrastructure resources and has emerged as a leader of higher education in Sri Lanka.
To date, it has produced about 10,000 graduates and over 75 postgraduates. Around 100 postgraduate students are pursuing masters and doctoral programmes in disciplines that are of relevance to the development of the region in particular and the country in general.
Library
The Main Library of the University of Ruhuna is at the Wellamadama campus. Agriculture, Medical and Engineering faculty libraries are at the Mapalana, Karapitiya and Hapugala campuses. There is also an Allied Health Sciences faculty library.
| Established | 1978 |
|---|---|
| Location | , |
| Website | http://www.lib.ruh.ac.lk/ |
The library holds about 140,000 books and about 300 journals (foreign and local). These resources are available in print and electronic formats. Services include reference, lending, interlibrary loan, current awareness services, workshops and maintaining library website with links to resources for which the library have subscribed as well as those available free. The library website also provides access to the CD collection and the Online Public Access catalogue. According to library statistics, annual circulation of resources is more than 123,000.
Faculties
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It has seven faculties: Agriculture, Engineering, Fisheries and Marine Sciences & Technology, Humanities and Social Sciences, Management and Finance, Medicine, and Science.
The university has responded to the needs of the country and established two new faculties — 'Management and Finance' and 'Fisheries and Marine Science' — the first of its kind in Sri Lanka. Thus, the university has as many faculties as the University of Peradeniya, the largest in Sri Lanka.
The main campus is at Matara. The faculties of Engineering and Medicine are at Hapugala and Karapitiya, about 5 km from Galle city center. The Faculty of Agriculture is at Mapalana, 16 km north of Matara and 2 km south of Kamburupitiya.
Faculty of Agriculture
The following departments make up the Faculty of Agriculture:
- Department of Agricultural Engineering: Green technology
- Department of Agricultural Biology
- Department of Agricultural Economics: Agri business management technology
- Department of Animal Science
- Department of Food Science & Technology
- Department of Crop Science: Agri resource management technology
- Department of Soil Science
Faculty of Engineering
The Faculty of Engineering is in Hapugala, Galle, outside of the city.
The following departments make up the Faculty of Engineering:
- Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
- Department of Electrical and Information Engineering
- Department of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering
- Department of Interdisciplinary Studies
Curriculum at the Faculty of Engineering augments the engineering education with due emphasis on Humanities, Social Engineering and Management. It introduced the course unit system (semester system) among the faculties of Engineering in Sri Lanka.
The faculty was started in 1999 with 100 students. The first batch of students graduated in 2003.
Dr. H.H.J. Kirthisena was the first dean of the faculty and served from 1999 to 2001. Professor Lakshman Jayathilaka served as the second dean of the faculty from 2002 to 2003 and Dr. Kithsiri M. Liyange as the dean till 2007.
At present Dr. Chandana Perera serves as the dean. There are more than 800 students doing their studies in the faculty. In 2014 the intake was increased up to 225 per batch.
The faculty offers three bachelor's degree programs: Civil and Environmental Engineering, Electrical and Information Engineering, and Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering.
The following is a list of recent Faculty of Engineering students' achievements:
- Best student project gold & Bronze Awards at TECHNO 2009
- Best student paper award in the Information and Communication Technology(ICT) and Social Transformation track at the ICIAfS 2008, 4th International conference on Information and Automation for Sustainability, organized by IEEE
- IESL awards for best undergraduate projects in Electrical Engineering discipline and Mechanical Engineering discipline, 2008
- Gold award at the National Engineering and Technology Awards 2008 from IESL for the best engineering projects displayed at TECHNO 2008 exhibition
- IET YMS Annual technical conference best paper award in the Electronic, Telecommunication & ICT category, 2008
- The First Place, Young Members Section, 2007, The Institution of Engineers, Sri Lanka (IESL), October 2008
- The Second Place, Young Members Section, 2007, The Institution of Engineers, Sri Lanka (IESL), October 2008
- Third place at Robot Games 2008 organized by IESL
- Best student project award from IET Younger Member Section, 2006
- Best student project Silver Award at TECHNO, 2006
- Best student project award from IESL, Younger Member Section in Electrical discipline, 2004
Department of Electrical and Information Engineering
The Department of Electrical and Information Engineering offers Electrical, Electronic, Telecommunication, Computer and Information Engineering under one specialization stream.
The department has three main laboratories: Electrical Machines and Power Electronic Laboratory, Electrical Measurements and Electronic Laboratory, and the Communication and System Engineering Laboratory. It is equipped with a separate computer resource center for specialized applications and research.
Dr. S.H.K.K Gunawickrama serves as the head of the department. The department has 4 senior lecturers and 13 lecturers. Most of the academic staff are on study leave doing their post-graduate degrees.
Department of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering
The department of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering offers Mechanical Engineering, Manufacturing Engineering (Production Engineering), Automobile Technology, Computer aided Designing and Engineering, Control and Robotics Engineering, and other technological specialties under one specialization stream.
Department research activities are offered at the undergraduate and post-graduate level.
The department has five main laboratories: Materials and Metallurgy Laboratory, Thermodynamics and Energy Laboratory, Fluid Mechanics and Process Engineering Laboratory, Applied Mechanics and Automobile Engineering Laboratory, and the Control, Automation and CAD/CAM Laboratory. There is also an Engineering Workshop for graduate training in use of industrial instruments. The department is equipped with a separate Computer Laboratory for CAD/CAM activities.
Dr. S. Baduge serves as the head of the department, which consists of 5 senior lecturers and 7 lecturers. Most of the academic staff members are on study leave doing their post graduate degrees.
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
The department of Civil and Environmental Engineering offers Structural Engineering and Construction Material,Geotechnical and Geo-environmental Engineering,Water and Environmental Engineering,Infrastructure Development and Management and other technological specialties under one specialization stream.
Faculty of Fisheries and Marine Sciences and Technology
The following departments make up the Faculty of Fisheries and Marine Sciences and Technology:
- Department of Oceanography and Marine Geology
- Department of Limnology
- Department of Fisheries & Aquaculture
Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
The following departments make up the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences:
- Department of Public Policy
- Department of Economics
- Department of Geography
- Department of History
- Department of Pali & Buddhist Studies
- Department of Sinhala
- Department of Sociology
- Department of English
Faculty of Management and Finance
The following departments make up the Faculty of Management and Finance:
- Department of Management and Entrepreneurship
- Department of Accounting and Finance
- Department of Marketing
Faculty of Medicine
The Faculty of Medicine, University of Ruhuna is in Galle. It is the only medical school in the Southern part of Sri Lanka.
It was established in 1980. It offers MBBS degree program and three Allied Health Sciences degree programmes — Bachelor of Science in Nursing, Bachelor of Science in Medical Laboratory Science and Bachelor of Pharmacy. There are over 125 full-time academic staff members in the faculty covering all the disciplines. In addition, specialist staff of the Teaching Hospital, Karapitiya are working as extended faculty staff in teaching undergraduates.
It caters for postgraduate students in medicine and other related fields.
It is recognized as a training centre by the Postgraduate Institute of Medicine, of the University of Colombo. Faculty of Medicine, University of Ruhuna attracts considerable number of medical students to follow elective appointments, from many countries, particularly from European countries like Germany and United Kingdom.
The following departments make up the Faculty of Medicine:
- Department of Anatomy
- Department of Biochemistry
- Department of Physiology
- Department of Parasitology
- Department of Microbiology
- Department of Pharmacology
- Department of Pathology
- Department of Forensic Medicine
- Department of Community Medicine
- Department of Medicine
- Department of Surgery
- Department of Paediatrics
- Department of Psychiatry
- Department of Gynaecology & Obstetrics
Faculty of Science
The main vision of the Faculty of Science is to become a center of scientific and technological excellence nationally and internationally, and serve the community in pursuit of this goal. At present, the faculty recruits 130 students for the Biological Science, 210 students for the Physical Science and 50 students for the Computer Science streams for every academic year. The selection of students for undergraduate courses is done by the University Grants Commission of Sri Lanka, based on the performance of students in the relevant General Certificate Examination (Advanced Level).
The faculty offers primarily undergraduate courses viz. the Bachelor of Science (B.Sc.) General Degree and Bachelor of Computer Science (BCS) General Degree of three–year duration and B.Sc. Special Degree of four-year duration. The undergraduate programme consists of a large number of course units offered by individual departments.
The faculty offers postgraduate degree programmes leading to the M.Sc., M.Phil and Ph.D.
The Faculty of Science offers a Foundation programme, which offers course units on English (Intensive Course), Skills in Common Disciplines, and National Heritage, among others. This programme is provided as a preparation to the Bachelor of Science Degree and is mandatory. This programme carries three non-degree credits.
The Faculty of Science consists of six departments: Botany, Chemistry, Computer Science, Mathematics, Physics, and Zoology.
Department of Computer Science
The Computer Unit was established more than 30 years ago and The Department of Computer Science of the University of Ruhuna was established in 1997 fulfilling a long-standing need of the University. The Department of Computer Science and the Computer Unit are functioning as a common body to achieve their goals. The Department of Computer Science, established in 1997, was the first computer science department established in a Sri Lankan university.
The Department of Computer Science offers two main degree programs. The Bachelor of Computer Science (BCSc) degree program is an out-come of an enormous effort of the staff of the Department of Computer Science. One of the prime objectives of this degree programme is to prepare the undergraduates for a career in Computer Science and Information Technology, which is one of the major driving forces of the economic development of Sri Lanka. Students admitted to the program will pursue a full-scale Computer Science programme of three years leading to the degree of Bachelor of Computer Science (General). Based on the performance, a limited number of students will be selected to study an extra year leading to the degree of Bachelor of Computer Science (Special). One of the prime objectives of the special degree is to offer in-depth knowledge in selected areas of computer science for those who wish to pursue an academic and/or research careers.
The department also offers a BSc in Computer Science to Physical Science students who are following a Bachelor of Science degree program. The duration of the Bachelor of Science General Degree Course is three academic years (six semesters).
Student life
Faculty Students' Unions
According to the amended University Act of 1988, Section 26, students of each faculty can form a Faculty Union of all students of that faculty. The main objective of this Union is to promote academic actions of the student population and to work for the advancement and welfare of the students and the faculty. The student union of Science Faculty has a vision of anti-ragging.
Sport facilities
The university is equipped with a large gymnasium which is the third best in Sri Lanka with seating capacity for 3000. Training facilities for many indoor sports activities are available here for students after 12.00 p.m. every weekday. These includes:
The university playground was commissioned in 1998 and outdoor facilities for following sports are available here.
The department of physical education provides sports equipment to students for games organized by the university and for training sessions free of charge.
References
- ^ Saga of Nilame and Kumarihamy by Lakmal Welabada. Sunday Observer (Sri Lanka), Retrieved on 10 December 2006.
- ^ AN ILLUSTRIOUS STATESMAN. Daily News, Retrieved on 7 January 2016.
External links