Rajeev Amarasuriya new President of University of Colombo Alumni

Rajeev Amarasuriya was elected as the 10th President of the Alumni Association of the University of Colombo at its 33rd Annual General Meeting held recently at the College House premises of the University of Colombo, with the participation of a large number of alumni and academic staff of the university.

It was also a special occasion with a third generation alumni taking over the mantle of this association formed in 1982 by Prof. Stanley Wijesundera, the then Vice Chancellor and Tissa Devendra as the founder President. The other Presidents have been the Late Sujata Jayawardena, the Late Yogendra Duraiswamy, the Late Dr. Dudley Gunasekera, J. Charitha Ratwatte, Thilak Karunaratne, Ramanee Amarasuriya, P.W. Senaratne and Lakshman Keerthisinghe.

The chief guest was Prof. Mohan De Silva, the Chairman of the University Grants Commission whilst the guest of honour was Prof. Lalitha Mendis, the Competent Authority of the University of Colombo. Many deans and senior professors also participated.

Amarasuriya in his inauguration speech said that alumni of the University of Colombo need to be very grateful to this institution for all that they have received from it, by way of education, services, facilities and exposure, all provided to them free of charge with no bondage or prior stipulated conditions. He further stated that the association gives Colombo alumni the opportunity to give back to the university in whichever way they can and enables them to play a role in its development and pursuit of academic excellence while also ensuring continued interactions with the university and fellow alumni.

He also stated that although the University of Colombo is ranked highly both in Sri Lanka and in South Asia its world ranking is less competitive. One of the most obvious issues that confront the University is that Sri Lanka is still a developing nation with a limited allocation of funding and resources directed towards higher education. This limits the extent of facilities, technology, research and other opportunities available to the university, being one of the reasons preventing it from rising in international ranking.

He also paid tribute to the staff and authorities of the university, who despite these barriers and deficits have worked tirelessly in attempting to provide students with exposure on par with other world class institutions.

He also highlighted the several projects that the new committee plans on initiating during the coming years which are to be within three broad areas; as projects that cater to the welfare of the students, projects that serve the members of the association and projects that serve the university at large.

He also said that although students excel academically, an area that many struggle with is their ability to communicate in English, given that a majority of them complete their secondary school Education in either Sinhala or Tamil. This can be very overwhelming for those who are required to suddenly switch their primary medium of instruction to English, making their university experience very stressful and preventing them from reaching their full potential.

Therefore, as has been done a few years back, the association will run a series of programs focusing on developing these skills in students. While concerns are sometimes raised by the industry about the ‘employability’ of graduates, the association will also strive to bridge some of their identified skills deficits by implementing projects on soft skills development enabling them to be high runners in the job market.

Development of entrepreneurial skills will be another area that will be focused in order to better position the graduates to contribute to the economy and society. This will be in addition to the series of student welfare activities that have been conducted over the past 32 years, many of which will be resuscitated. These include the student friend and guide scheme, eye camps, granting of scholarships, mentoring programs, entrepreneurship programs, promotion of the creative arts of the students, etc.

For the alumni, the association plans to have more fellowship events where they can meet and establish professional and social contacts and also have closer relationship with the university. Evening discussions and lectures on issues and topics that are of interest and family outings, in addition to events such as the Sujata Jayawardena Memorial Oration will be conducted.

The association will also take steps to make available the vast resources of alumni to the university and its administration, for the growth and development of the university.

University Grants Commission Chairman Prof. Mohan De Silva, who delivered the keynote address whilst stating that an Alumni Association is a forum for discussion of both personal and professional issues, emphasised the importance of there being professionalism amongst graduates and went on to state that professionals are not oblivious to the environment and are equipped with emotional intelligence. He observed that individual character plays a key role in the exercise of professionalism which is a function of accountability linked to integrity and honesty. He assured the University of Colombo and the alumni his fullest support and assistance in helping develop the university even further.

Prof. Lalitha Mendis stated there was much that could be done to improve the university system which would also result in improved world rankings. Areas which need to be addressed included improved funding, more autonomy for the Universities when utilising self generated funds, enhancement of cadres to keep up with increased student intakes and the need to provide more research grants. Prof. Mendis also commended the parent association in its endeavour to bring within its umbrella several satellite organisations that have sprung over the recent years both here and overseas, so that all alumni could function under one umbrella.

Another special feature at this meeting was the launching of a brand new website for the association designed and presented by the leading web design company 3Cs for the association which is linked to Facebook, Linkedin and other social media enabling better communication with the membership and the public as well. The website was formally launched by Prof. Mohan De Silva, Prof. Lalitha Mendis, Rajeev Amarasuriya and Chairman 3Cs and former Vice Chancellor of the University of Peradeniya Prof. Madduma Bandara.

The newly elected Committee comprises President – Rajeev Amarasuriya, Vice Presidents – Vice Chancellor (Ex-Officio) and Suranjani Wickremeratne, Past Presidents as Advisors – Tissa Devendra, J. Charitha Ratwatte, Thilak Karunaratne, Ramanee Amarasuriya and P.W. Senaratne, Immediate Past President – Lakshman Keerthisinghe, Secretary – Ruwandhi Thanthrige, Asst. Secretary – Nazima Kamardeen, Treasurer – J.M.S. Bandara, Assistant Treasurer – Jitendra Gunatilake, Editor – Mahesha Amarasuriya, Assistant Editor – Ajit Jayawardena and Executive Committee Members – Prof. Gihan Wickramanayake, M.K. Gnanasekera, Channa De Silva, Dayani Panagoda, Milton Arandara, K.D.R. Siriwardena, G. Wijemanna, D.H.W. Kirinde, Isuru Thilakawardena and Nayantha Wijesurendra.