University of Peradeniya (UoP) is the heir to a seventy-year old university tradition, which commenced with the inception of the University of Ceylon, the first institution of its kind to be established in Sri Lanka on 1st July 1942 and located in Colombo until it was shifted to the present site of great natural beauty at Peradeniya on 6th October 1952. The University of Ceylon at its inception was an institution of very modest proportions consisting of four faculties; Arts, Oriental Studies, Science and Medicine.
At present, UoP has 9 faculties: Agriculture, Allied Health Sciences, Arts, Dental Sciences, Engineering, Management, Medicine, Science, Veterinary Medicine and Animal Sciences together with 3 postgraduate institutes: Postgraduate Institute of Agriculture (PGIA), Postgraduate Institute of Sciences (PGIS), and Postgraduate Institute of Humanities and Social Sciences (PGIHS).
In 2018, the total undergraduate enrolment was 12756 as internal students and another 10372 as external students. There were 8314 Postgraduate students. For 2018, the International student enrolment was around 257. University education for domestic internal undergraduates is free of charge; hence the international student enrolment has been restricted by the Government of Sri Lanka as a policy to provide more opportunities for local students.
The university is located in a salubrious environment spreaded over 700 hectares between the Hantana mountain range and the Mahaweli River. This includes a 150 hectares natural forest reserve as well. There are 24 halls of residence accommodating around 9,000 students and there are 413 staff quarters for university employees. Other infrastructure facilities include playing fields, gymnasium, swimming pool, open-air theatre, health center, teaching hospital, dental hospital, veterinary hospital and four agriculture and livestock farms.
UoP has initiated many major initiatives in the last few years, to upgrade its quality of education through changing infrastructure and revising curricular to match with national and global needs. During the last 77 years of its existence, UoP has developed into the largest, most comprehensive and No. 1 Ranked University in Sri Lanka. UoP has currently emerged as a leading global center of excellence in education, training, research and outreach.
