University of Jaffna

The University of Jaffna (Tamil: யாழ்ப்பாணப் பல்கலைக்கழகம், romanized: Yāḻppāṇap Palkalaikkaḻakam; Sinhala: යාපනය විශ්වවිද්‍යාලය, Yāpanaya Wiśwawidyālaya; abbreviated UoJ) is a public university in Jaffna, Sri Lanka. Established in 1974 as the sixth campus of the University of Sri Lanka, it became an independent, autonomous university in 1979.

The main campus is located in Thirunelvely, Jaffna. It also has faculties in Ariviyal Nagar near Kilinochchi, Kaithady and Maruthanarmadam near Chunnakam. It has thirteen faculties (Agriculture, Alied Health Science, Applied Science, Arts, Business Studies, Engineering, Graduate Studies, Hindu Studies, Management Studies and Commerce, Medicine, Science, Technology, and Technological Studies) and thirteen other academic units/centres. The university offers undergraduate and postgraduate courses that award various degrees.

In 2016 the university had 7,972 students and 1,342 employees. It is the seventh largest university in Sri Lanka in student numbers. In 2015/16 the university admitted 3,009 undergraduates. UoJ had a recurrent budget of Rs. 2.2 billion and a capital budget of Rs. 1.2 billion in 2016. Its income in 2016 was Rs. 3.5 billion of which Rs. 3.4 billion (98%) was a grant from the central government in Colombo.

The chancellor and the Vice-chancellor are Emeritus Professor Rajaratnam Kumaravadivel and Professor Sivakolundu Srisatkunarajah respectively. UoJ is a member of the Association of Commonwealth Universities.

History

University of Sri Lanka Jaffna campus

On 15 July 1974 Badi-ud-din Mahmud, Minister of Education and Pro-Chancellor of the University of Sri Lanka, declared that the sixth campus of the University of Sri Lanka would be established in Jaffna. K. Kailasapathy, head of the Department of Tamil and Hindu studies of the Vidyalankara campus of the University of Sri Lanka, was appointed as the first president of the Jaffna campus. Extraordinary gazette no. 121/15 was published on 25 July 1974 establishing the Jaffna Campus. The new campus started functioning on 1 August 1974 at the Parameswara College premises in Thirunelvely some 4 km north of Jaffna city centre. Parameswara College had been founded in 1921 by P. Ramanathan.

The campus had approval for three faculties (Humanities, Law and Science) and one department (Physical Education). Only the Humanities and Science faculties were functioning when the campus started taking students in October 1974. The Faculty of Humanities and campus administration were based at Thirunelvely. The Faculty of Science was based at the undergraduate section of Jaffna College, Vaddukoddai which had been taken over by the government on 13 August 1974.

The Faculty of Humanities was renamed Faculty of Arts in 1975. The Ramanathan Academy of Fine Arts, based at Ramanathan College in Maruthanarmadam, was taken over by the Jaffna Campus on 1 December 1975. The Faculty of Science moved to Thirunelvely in June 1978 and the Jaffna College site was returned to its former owners the Jaffna Diocese of the Church of South India. The Faculty of Medicine was established on 7 August 1978 with its base at the Ayurvedic Hospital in Kaithady.

University of Jaffna

The Universities Act No. 16 of 1978 radically altered university education in Sri Lanka. The University of Sri Lanka was abolished and its six campuses (Colombo, Peradeniya, Sri Jayewardenepura, Kelaniya, Moratuwa and Jaffna) were each elevated to independent, autonomous universities. A gazette was issued on 22 December 1978 establishing the University of Jaffna with effect from 1 January 1979.

The Faculty of Medicine was shifted to Thirunelvely in 1981. Construction of a new library, student centre and arts block began in 1981 but were halted due to the civil war. The Siddha section of the Institute of Indigenous Medicine was moved from the University of Colombo to the University of Jaffna in July 1984. The partially completed library started functioning in 1986.

The escalation of hostilities between the Indian Peace Keeping Force and the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam in late 1987 severely affected the university. UoJ buildings and equipment suffered extensive damage. Students and academic/non-academic staff were killed. During the late 1980s/early 1990s, when most of the Jaffna Peninsula including Jaffna city was under LTTE control, the university suffered frequent aerial bombings, shortage of essential goods due to the economic blockade, shortage of academic staff many of whom had fled abroad and a general disturbance of academic life due to the frequent curfews.

Campus

The university is based at five sites: Thirunelvely, Vavuniya, Ariviyal Nagar, Kaithady and Maruthanarmadam.

The Thirunelvely campus is split into two. The main site off Ramanathan Road contains three faculties - Arts, Management Studies & Commerce and Science - as well as the main administrative departments, library and student complex. The second site off Adiyapatham Road contains the Medicine faculty. The Faculty of Graduate Studies is based in a rented house on Ramanathan Road opposite the university.

The Vavuniya campus is based at several sites in the town as well as in the outskirts of Vavuniya. The campus plans move all its functions to the spacious Pambaimadhu site on the Mannar-Vavuniya Road. This site houses the Faculty of Business Studies and student hostels. The Faculty of Applied Science is in Vavuniya.

The faculties of Agriculture, Engineering and Technology are based at Ariviyal Nagar near Murukandy, south of Kilinochchi.

The Ramanathan Academy of Fine Arts is in Marthanamadam and the Siddha Medicine Unit is in Kaithady.

Organisation and administration

The current chancellor is Emeritus Professor R. Kumaravadivel, appointed by the president of Sri Lanka in August 2025. The vice-chancellor is Professor S. Srisatkunarajah who took office on 2020. The current rector of the Vavuniya Campus is T. Mangaleswaran. The most senior non-academic staff is registrar V. Kandeepan.

The University of Jaffna has ten faculties and ten other academic units/centres:

Faculty of Agriculture

The University of Jaffna started campaigning for the establishment of a Faculty of Agriculture at the university in 1981. The University Grants Commission gave its approval in 1985. The town of Kilinochchi was identified as a suitable location for the new faculty and construction of a new building began in 1986. Construction was abandoned in 1987 due to the civil war. The new faculty started functioning in December 1990 at buildings belonging to the Regional Agriculture Research and Development Centre (RARDC) and the District Training Centre of Department of Agriculture in Kilinochchi.

The escalation of hostilities in the Vanni in 1996 caused severe disruption to the faculty, which was forced to move several times. The University Council decided to move the faculty to Jaffna and in August 1997 studies re-commenced at the faculty's new premises in Jaffna.

Construction of a new building for the faculty at Ariviyal Nagar, Kilinochch began after the end of the civil war in 2009. This building complex was renovated with the state fund and Faculty of Agriculture started to function in that place since December 2014. During this year two foreign funded projects from India and Japan were discussed, formulated and submitted for funding aiming to improving the infrastructure facilities at the faculty. The faculty has established crop and livestock farms in Ariviyal Nagar, Kilinochchi to provide a sound practical training in Agriculture to the students. To support the academic programmes as well as the outreach activities, the faculty has absorbed an Integrated Farm and Training center located at Puliyankulum. Meantime a skill development center consisting of Conference hall, Computer unit, Library, Canteen and student complex was built with the financial support of the Government of India. These facilities are well utilized by the students as well as the postgraduate students and staff. A full-fledged Research and Training Complex has been established with the support of Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) in 2021. At present, the Faculty of Agriculture is functioning with quite enough facilities for teaching, learning and research.

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