The story
Ceylon Medical College
The origins of the University of Colombo lie in the establishment of the Ceylon Medical School in June 1870. It was the second European medical school to be established in South Asia. In 1880, the school was raised to the status of college, thus becoming the Ceylon Medical College, which permitted it to award the Licentiate in Medicine and Surgery (LMS), which continued until the late 1940s. In 1889, the college was recognised by the General Medical Council of the United Kingdom when holders of its license became eligible to practice in Great Britain.
Ceylon University College
The Ceylon University Association (CUA) was formed in 1906 by a group of western-educated elite, including Sir Ponnambalam Arunachalam, Sir James Peiris and Sir Marcus Fernando. Owing to the persistent demands of the CUA the government decided in 1913 to set up a University college.
Arguments regarding the nature and status of the institution to be set up, its location, and the outset of World War I halted the establishment process until 1920 when the government purchased a private mansion called the Regina Walawwa which later came to be known as College House for the purpose of setting up the University College under the recommendations of Sir Edward Denham.
The Ceylon University College was formerly declared open in January 1921 in the building that was originally the main building of Royal College Colombo, located on Kumarathunga Munidasa Mawatha (formerly Thurstan Road) opposite College House. The University College was affiliated to the University of London and prepared students for University of London external degrees, which were jointly examined. Even though this fell short of a full university for Ceylon, it proved a platform to develop the academia required for a university. It had two departments: Arts and Science.
University of Ceylon
The University of Ceylon was established on 1 July 1942 by the Ceylon University Ordinance No.20 of 1942, which was passed by the State Council of Ceylon amidst World War II and the threat of Japanese invasion. The Ceylon University College and the Ceylon Medical College were combined to form the University of Ceylon, with its administration based at College House and the ability to grant its own degrees. The two departments of Arts and Science of the University College were upgraded to faculties, the Medical College became the faculty of medicine and a new faculty of Oriental Studies was established at Cruden House. The university library was based at Villa Venezia in Queens Road. Residential facilities were provided at the Union Hostel with three halls of residence Jayatilleke and Arunachalam based at Guildford Crescent and Queens Hall (Q Hall or Women's hostel) along with two other hostels named Brodie and Aquinas.
Following the completion of new buildings at Peradeniya, the departments of Law and Agriculture and the department of Veterinary Science were transferred out of Colombo to Peradeniya in 1949; the department of Law was brought back to Colombo in 1965. Later in 1952, the faculties of Arts and Oriental Studies were moved to Peradeniya too, along with sections of the university administration and library. Two halls of residence, Jayatilleke Hall and Arunachalam Hall, were transferred to Peradeniya too. The Faculty of Engineering, University of Peradeniya|Faculty of Engineering]] was established in 1950 and was later transferred to Peradeniya in 1965.
Sections of the University of Ceylon, which functioned in Colombo and Peradeniya, acted as campuses of the same university until 1966. But in 1966, these campuses were split into two. The section located in Colombo was known as the University of Ceylon, Colombo, while the section located in Peradeniya was known asthe University of Ceylon, Peradeniya.
University of Ceylon, Colombo Campus
The announcement of the creation of a separate university in Colombo was made in Parliament in the Throne Speech of 1967. The necessary legislation for this purpose had been prepared by the Minister of Education and Cultural Affairs under section 34 of the Higher Education Act No. 20 of 1966 on the recommendation of the National Council of Higher Education. The new institution, which came into existence on 1 October 1967 with the Colombo Campus as its nucleus, had a student population of nearly 5000 reading for degrees in arts, law, the sciences and medicine, and a teaching staff of nearly 300.
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The University of Ceylon Act No. 1 of 1972, which replaced the Higher Education Act of 1966, altered the university structure. The four independent autonomous universities (University of Ceylon, Peradeniya, University of Ceylon, Colombo, Vidyodaya University and Vidyalankara University), which had been set up by then and the Ceylon College of Technology at Katubedda became campuses of a single university styled the University of Sri Lanka. Its headquarters designated Senate House was located in Colombo. This arrangement did not last very long. With the promulgation of the Universities Act. No 16 of 1978, university status was again restored to the Campuses, and the Colombo Campus of the University of Sri Lanka was renamed the University of Colombo, Sri Lanka.
University of Colombo
Under the Universities Act No. 16, 1978, the University of Sri Lanka was split into six independent, autonomous universities as University of Colombo, University of Peradeniya, University of Sri Jayewardenepura, University of Kelaniya, University of Moratuwa and University of Jaffna. This Act brought back some of the central features of the Ceylon University Ordinance of 1942 such as the Senates, the Councils, and Courts.
From Wikipedia’s article on University of Colombo School of Computing, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.3