Sri Lanka holds symposium with Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences

The Embassy of Sri Lanka in Sweden together with the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU) organised a Sri Lanka Symposium on 13 June at the SLU in Uppsala. 

The Symposium was chaired by Pro Vice-Chancellor for International Relations at the SLU, Ylva Hillbur. Many academics from the university were present to share their views and to present ongoing collaborative research projects with Sri Lanka. 

The objective of this Symposium was to strengthen academic collaborations between the SLU and Sri Lanka. The SLU is ranked the 3rdbest university in the world for agricultural sciences. 50% of its students are international students. 

The session started with Pro Vice-Chancellor of the SLU presenting an overview of the university and its focus on sustainable food technologies in this context of climate change.She emphasised the importance and benefits of foreign collaborations. In his remarks, Ambassador Ganegama Arachchi highlighted the possibility of signing aMemorandum of Understandingfor strengthening collaborations with Sri Lankan universities.He also suggested to arrange split programs for PhD candidates from Sri Lanka and to provide opportunities for Sri Lankan academics to spend sabbatical leave at the SLU.  

The Vice Chairman of the University Grants Commission of Sri Lanka, Professor P.S.M. Gunaratne joined the symposium via video conferencing and briefly presented the quality and higher education system in Sri Lanka.He proposed the possibility of having collaborations in the field of bio-system technology and bio-informatics where Sri Lanka needs more knowledge and expertise. This proposal was well received by the SLU.

Several presentations were made by academics on joint research projects conducted by the SLU and Sri Lankan universities. The symposium ended with a lunch reception. The program was organised by Hasitha Priyashantha, PhD student from Sri Lanka in the SLU in coordination with the Embassy of Sri Lanka. Minister, Harsha Vithanaarachchi and Commercial Secretary, Yasoji Gunawardana joined with the Ambassador to represent the Embassy at this event.