Keynote Speech at Univerity of Moratuwa Golden Jubilee

Keynote Speech by Prof J R Lucas - Univerity of Moratuwa Golden Jubilee on 29 December 2022

1. Chancellor Prof K K Y W Perera, Vice-Chancellor Prof Niranjan Gunawardena, Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Registrar, Deans, Librarian, Bursar, Council Members, Senate Members and all staff academic, administrative, non-academic and academic support, both past and present,, Alumni, current students, and Distinguished Guests. It gives me great pleasure to give a short talk, from personal experience, about the history of the University of Moratuwa over the 50-year period from inception.

2. You may be aware that I joined the predecessor of the University, the Ceylon College of Technology on Friday 13th March 1970 and taught from the first batch of students to graduate from Katubedda in 1972. I continued in various capacities to when Covid drove me out of the University on my 50th anniversary of teaching at Moratuwa on Friday 13th March 2020 after I was felicitated by my former electrical engineering students at a grand function. From this day onwards all functions at all hotels were banned due to the onset of Covid. Since then, I have continued to teach online on the Master’s programme. You may also want to know that I was involved with both the main university as well as the ITUM at the highest levels, and taught both the degree students as well as NDT students in the early years.

3. The roots of the University of Moratuwa, located at Katubedda can be traced back to the first institution for formal technical education in Sri Lanka, the Government Technical School, established in 1893, with an initial enrolment of 25 students. The only higher education institutes existing at that time were the Ceylon Medical School established in 1870 and the Ceylon Law College established in 1874. The GTS changed its name to the Ceylon Technical College in 1906 and provided facilities for technical education in Civil, Electrical and Mechanical Engineering fields. In January 1933, the CTC was reorganised and thereafter prepared candidates for the external degrees in engineering of the University of London. CTC also conducted lectures for the foreign Profession Examinations of the three major British professional institutions Civil, Electrical and Mechanical Engineering, and that in Architecture

4. A new Institute of Practical Technology (IPT) was constructed, on a fifty-acre block overlooking the Bolgoda Lake in Katubedda, with aid from the Government of Canada. The technical courses at CTC were transferred to the IPT together with the respective departments. The primary aim of the IPT was to provide full time courses for architects, junior technical officers, surveyors & levellers and draughtsmen. In addition to the full-time courses for technicians, the IPT also offered part time courses in engineering studies for those employed in the government and private sectors. The courses in architecture were later transferred to the University of Ceylon, Colombo when it established its own Department of Architecture.

5. The Junior Technical Officers course which was inaugurated at the CTC in the late 1940’s continued to be offered at the IPT. In 1951 Prof. Allen Hardy, arrived from Canada as the UN/FAP Advisor to the Department of Agriculture. He was later appointed to set up a Technical Training Institute to conduct two-year Diploma courses in Civil, Mechanical, Electrical and Agriculture Engineering commencing in January 1956. As a tribute to Prof Hardy the TTI was renamed as the Hardy Technical Training Institute after his death. In 1967, the Hardy Institute was handed over to the Technical Education Unit of the Ministry of Education. The IPT was amalgamated with the CCT and the JTO course was restructured and named as the Technician’s Course. Among the initial facilities were the Physics and Chemistry Laboratories and the corresponding Lecture Theatres.

6. In 1960, PA de Silva joined Katubedda as an Assistant Lecturer. In 1961, the Government of Ceylon realised that an effective system of specialised education and training, was a pre-requisite to achieve and sustain rapid development. As engineering education at professional level was provided exclusively by the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Ceylon, being then in the final stages of being relocated to Peradeniya from Colombo, a Commission of Inquiry recommended the expansion of facilities for professional engineering education at Katubedda. The Ceylon College of Technology was thus established in 1966 with Dr L H Sumanadasa as its Director. It was designed to confer a practically oriented engineering Diploma in Technology equivalent to a degree and were developed with the technical assistance of UNESCO. They commenced, with specialisations in Civil, Electrical and Mechanical Engineering, initially utilising the physical facilities available at the IPT, with expatriate staff provided by UNESCO and local staff provided by the Government. The IPT continued in the same premises with its full-time courses and its own Director.

7. With Ceylon becoming a republic on May 22, 1972, the Technicians Course was renamed as National Diploma in Technology (NDT). The NDT was designed with 2 academic years and one integral year in industry. The examinations continued to be conducted by the Examination department of the country. In 1976, the National Diploma in Technology (NDT) engineering second year courses were transferred from Hardy Institute to Katubedda. In 1980, all Diploma level engineering courses were transferred to the University of Moratuwa except Agriculture and other trade courses. In 1980 even the NDT first year at Hardy was transferred to Moratuwa. Selection to the NDT course was by a panel of senior academics. I was the chairman in the initial stages, with interview based on OL results with credit given for AL and held at the Ceylon Technical College. Although politicians tried to influence the selection, we strictly followed the guidelines. The University of Moratuwa decided to fully take over the running of the NDT programme including the conducting of examinations and issuing of certificates. I was appointed to find an amicable solution for the certificate issue while keeping the dignity of the certificate to ensure that the outside world understood the difference between the certificates.

8. In November 1966, 70 students who could not get into the limited vacancies at Peradeniya to undertake a degree in Engineering, decided to take the challenge selecting the unknown CCT, for their higher education. I was one of the lucky ones to enter Peradeniya in October 1966. There was just one building at Katubedda to conduct both the JTO and the DipTech programmes. James George Hall was the only hall that could accommodate all 70 students of the DipTech course. While field selection was carried out at the end of the first year of the DipTech programme, splitting to Electrical Engineering and Electronics & Telecommunication Engineering specialisations was carried out at the commencement of the third year. It was at this stage in 1969 that the Department of Electronic & Telecommunication Engineering was thus formally established. Just before this time, three professors were selected and joined the CCT. Professor Upali Kuruppu as the first Professor of Mechanical Engineering, , Professor KKYW Perera (Electronic and Telecommunication Engineering) and Professor Sam Karunarathne (Electrical Engineering) to lift the profile of the so called “Tech”.

9. Many technical level courses inherited from the CCT continued to be conducted. On attaining independent university status, the technical level courses were gradually phased out. Decision was taken to eventually conduct only degree level and higher courses in Technical fields

10. A Plan drawn in the 70s shows the buildings, namely the main building that existed from the time of IPT, the Sumanadasa Building, the Applied Science Building and the Hostel. It also shows the plans for a new lecture block and the Civil Engineering Complex. An areal photo taken much later shows some of these buildings labelled including the Physics and Chemistry Lecture Theatres and Laboratories.

11. While there were equipment and laboratories for surveying, electricity and electronics at the Katubedda campus, there were no facilities to conduct Fluid mechanics and some other areas. Thus, students had to travel to the Ceylon Technical College, Maradana to use their labs which had been vacated by the Engineering Faculty of the University of Ceylon who had used them earlier when they were based at the Colombo Campus. I was fortunate to be able to develop the first full course in High Voltage Engineering and teach it before going on my postgraduate studies in 1970/71. Assistance from UNESCO included the granting of scholarships to junior academic staff to pursue postgraduate studies. I was fortunate to receive one of these, and the manner in which I received the scholarship is almost unbelievable. Soon after I joined Katubedda on 13 March 1970 on compulsory public service, I was released to Peradeniya to complete my work as a temporary instructor. One Saturday, during this time, the Secretary of UNESCO Office at Katubedda came to my home and got me to fill an application to receive a UNESCO Fellowship for postgraduate studies. This paved the way for me to undertake my PhD from October 1971 at the prestigious University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology.

12. While I was away, University status was obtained in 1972, as the Katubedda Campus of the single University of Ceylon, the 50th anniversary of which we are celebrating today. The first President of the Campus was Dr. L. H. Sumanadasa who had steered the progress of the Institution as Director of the CCT. The Department of Architecture, then at Colombo, was transferred and the Katubedda Campus thus began with one faculty, that of Engineering and Architecture. Consequently, the DipTech programme was upgraded to the BSc Engineering degree and all students from even the first intake of DipTech became eligible for the degree. When Ceylon became a Republic on 22nd May 1972, the corporate name of the single University was changed to the University of Sri Lanka.

13. The technical education programmes conducted at Katubedda expanded. A new building (now designated as the Sumanadasa Building to honour pioneer of education at Katubedda) was built to house the academic staff and equipment required for the growing needs of the Faculty of Engineering and Architecture degree programmes, especially equipment obtained with UNESCO aid. The new laboratories including the high voltage laboratory were completed around 1973. Around this time, with an identified need for professionally qualified planners, the Department of Town & Country Planning was established.

14. In 1974, a link was formed with the University of Leeds to develop the newly instituted School of Applied Science. Under this school, the Department of Chemical Engineering, the Department of Material Science and the Department of Mining & Minerals Engineering were established. As the use of computers was a growing need, in 1975, a Computer Centre was established with a modest computer IBM 1130 within the Department of Electrical Engineering and served the whole of the University. In 1976, the university recognised the sub-specialisations of Rubber Technology (subsequently renamed polymer technology with an increase in its scope) within Chemical Engineering, and Textile Engineering within Mechanical Engineering, and divisions were formed. Around this period, divisions were also formed in many of the major departments.

15. By 1974, Professors had been recruited to Applied Science, Architecture, Civil Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Electronics and Telecommunications Engineering, Mathematics, Mechanical Engineering and Town and Country Planning.

16. Among the significant developments in the Engineering Education at Katubedda is the commencement of continuing education programs, as otherwise a University cannot go to international levels. The first of these was the Master’s degree programme in the Department of Civil Engineering in 1976. Much research and development occurred in the University from then on. Among the first short continuing education programmes conducted was in 1977 in Electrical Engineering. Around this time, Dr P A de Silva and other academic staff built from scratch, perhaps the first electric car to be produced in Sri Lanka, named Viduliya 1.

17. On 22 December 1978 by an Act of Parliament an independent, University of Moratuwa Sri Lanka was established with the first Chancellor as Sir Arthur C Clarke who was not only a well know figure worldwide as a science fiction writer but also the first person to come up with the idea of satellite communication. In 1981, the Faculty of Physical & Applied Sciences was amalgamated with the Faculty of Engineering. Based on a need in the country, a division of Marine studies was established in the Department of Mechanical Engineering and later in 1986 a nautical studies building was completed. From its inception, the institution at Moratuwa conducted all courses of study in the English medium. As it was evident that many of the students were not proficient in English a department was established in 1977 to redress this.

18. In early days, to encourage students to take part in sports, a new table tennis table was inaugurated by the Chancellor Dr Arthur C Clarke playing against me in the old gymnasium.

19. With a growing need in the country for Quantity Surveyors, in 1983 the Department of Building Economics was added to the Faculty of Architecture and the Undergraduate program leading to BSc Quantity Surveying degree commenced in 1985. Further, in 1985 the Department of Civil Engineering shifted to in its own building complex at a site bordering the Bolgoda Lake. The Department of Computer Science & Engineering was established in 1985 in the Faculty of Engineering incorporating the Computer Centre already in existence and the first batch of students to follow the BSc Engineering Honours degree in Computer Science and Engineering was enrolled in 1986.

20. Textile Technology became a fully-fledged department in 1985, with the launch of the B.Sc. Engineering Degree Program. Prior to that the department only conducted a postgraduate programme. In 1988, the department shifted to a well-equipped new building. Also in 1988, the Department of Mechanical Engineering took a major step by establishing the CAD/CAM Centre under a UNDP funded project. In the late 1980s, the Department of Electrical Engineering was able to commence part time Master's Degree program in Electrical Engineering for practising engineers with a strong content of Nuclear Power during with its first graduates coming out in 1990. In the 1990s student accommodation and hostel facilities received greater attention of the administration. New hostels were constructed and extensions to the existing ones were done in the years 1991-1995. A girls hostel was instituted in 1991.A major revision in the curriculum occurred culminating around 1992, where the Electrical Engineering and Electronics and Telecommunications Engineering took their separate paths from the second year onwards instead of in the final year of study only. The new library of the University was opened in a spacious building with needed facilities in 1995. Prior to this the library was scattered in different buildings of the University and could not cater to the increased intake of students.

21. The Engineering Research Unit (ERU) was set up at the University of Moratuwa in 1990 for the purpose of promoting research and disseminating research findings. Soon after its start, a directory of research of the previous 5 years was compiled and published when Prof KKYW Perera was its first Chairman. The first ERU Symposium on Industry related Research was held on 10 March 1995 when I was its Chairman. It has now grown to be the First International Multidisciplinary Engineering Research conference (MERCon). The Department of Management of Technology of University of Moratuwa was established in 1998 as a response to the increasing demand for the discipline of technology management. In 1998, the name of the Chemical Engineering Department was changed to Department of Chemical and Process Engineering to reflect the broader area of application of the field. Based on an incentive of scholarships from the Asian Development bank for the students, many Master’s programme commenced in October 1998. Since then, almost all departments have both Master’s students by course as well as by research. The first PhD from the Faculty of Engineering was successfully defended by Chintha Jayasinghe in May 1999. These could be considered as a major turning point in that it could now be considered a full-fledged University. The Department of Mining and Minerals Engineering was restructured in the year 2000, and named as the Department of Earth Resources Engineering, covering a wider range of disciplines to suit the needs of Sri Lanka.

22. After a successful Curriculum Revision Workshop with Industry in July 2000 , the curriculum of the Faculty of Engineering was converted to semester system from sessional examinations systems and the E II stream (which consisted of a separate entry to Chemical Engineering, Materials Engineering and Mining & Mineral Engineering) was eliminated, instead students were taken to the university under a common “Engineering” category. Further compulsory Non-Technical Modules were introduced to the course, and the concepts of design was introduced to the students early in their university education. The picture created by long ago shows the type of discussion that took place at Moratuwa, with SI Unit characters replacing academic staff members.

23. The Career Guidance Unit was established in the year 2000 to provide career guidance services to the students. It took over the “Are You Ready” programme which had been initiated by the Rotaract Club. It now conducts a number of professional development projects in collaboration with academic departments to improve the employability and soft skills of the students. In July 2000 an Engineering Design Centre was set up to build a design culture in the University and to provide services to the industry by undertaking their projects involving design, design modification, design & manufacture with emphasis on Electronics. In November 2001 the Bachelor of Design course was started with collaboration from the London College of Fashion of the University for the ARTs, London, a specialist in fashion design education as a pressing need of the country.

24. In 2000, a University Industry Interactive Cell (UIIC) was formed with assistance from the ADB to provide consultancy to Industry having first being proposed in 1985. However, being part of the University meant that it was controlled by government regulations. Thus, the Uni-Consultancy Services or UNIC was formed as an independent Association of the University of Moratuwa Academic Staff affiliated with the University of Moratuwa and registered under the Company's act No. 07 of 2007, as a Company Limited by Guarantee. The primary objectives is the effective and efficient usage of vast expertise knowledge and experience which the university staff possess, to meet the requirements of Sri Lankan Industry by sustainable development through Research and Development culture. Project consultancy unit was established to provide Architectural consultancy services to the prestigious mega projects such as the Colombo Lotus Tower project making use of the services of academics of other specialties of within the University. I was enlisted as the electrical engineering consultant of the Colombo Lotus Tower.

25. With the rapid expansion of the Information Technology Industry, the need to increase the production of qualified IT professionals was felt. The Faculty of Information Technology, the first ever faculty of this kind in the state university system, was thus established in June 2001, with its first intake of students in January 2002. It had the Department of Information Technology. Department of Computational Mathematics and the Department of Interdisciplinary Studies.An Awards Ceremony to felicitate the Academic and Research Achievements of academic staff was held in August 2001. The first MBA programme of the University of Moratuwa, in the specialisation of Management of Technology, was in October 2001 with an MBA in Information Technology commencing in November 2002.The Department of Town & Country Planning which was conducting the Post Graduate studies in Town & Country Planning pioneered a four year degree course in Town & Country Planning commencing in 2003. In April 2003, the Department of Electronics & Telecommunications Engineering shifted to its new building. An Extension Building of Faculty of Architecture was opened in September 2003 as space for the Architecture faculty to grow was very limited.

26. An important aspect of education is the development of the character of the person. Thus the following were accomplished. Thus a turf cricket pitch was obtained as a donation from Sri Lanka Cricket and opened on 1 March 2004. A new Gymnasium was constructed to cater for the needs of the increasing student numbers and opened on 6 September 2005. The Gavel Club of University of Moratuwa was formed on 6th April, 2005 for the benefit of the university students while a Toastmaster's Club was inaugurated for the benefit of the staff on 8th November 2005. University Boat House is the one of the two places in Sri Lanka which can facilitate Rowing as a Sport. A portion of the Bolgoda Lake adjoining the University was developed as a rowing course, and the South Asian Games 2006 Rowing Event was held at this venue starting at Thotupola in August 2006.

27. To cater to the increasing number of students at the University, a new cafeteria was constructed and opened on 1st January 2004. A food court was later added in 2015. The Department of Building Economics launched the BSc in Facilities Management degree in September 2005 The Department of Transport & Logistics Management was added to the Faculty of Engineering in September 2005 and moved to its new building in 2014.

28. The Centre for Open and Distance Learning (CODL) was established in the year 2006 to facilitate the administrative and academic support activities of study programs offered in open and distance learning mode. Thus the CODL has a virtual home, its website. It offered the Bachelor of Information Technology (BIT) External Degree programme. The Bachelor’s degree was offered within six semesters and was open to G.C.E. ( A.L.) qualified students from any stream or those with other equivalent qualifications. It is offered in 2 modes to assist those who need assistance in studying and those who don’t. In Mode 01 face-to-face lectures are delivered in collaboration with Partner Organizations. The Mode 02 which is the Direct Mode provides independent learning with support from CODL and available only for government officers. As the programme is meant for working students, multiple entry and exit points exist.

29. The University continued to expand with new buildings coming up - Chemical Engineering in 2009, and Mechanical Engineering in 2010 and new programmes being launched BSc in Information Technology and Management degree in June 2010 and the Bachelor of Landscape Architecture in 2013. The Faculty of Graduate Studies was established in June 2015 to enhance the postgraduate research culture in the university.

30. Initial years at Katubedda were relatively peaceful. The choice of not having arts degrees at the University was meant to prevent clashes between students, as students of professional courses easily found jobs and did not want to delay graduation. The same academic staff teaching both the Engineering Degree programme and the NDT. Sports and other common activities prevented unwanted clashes. However, with time both the degree holders as well as the NDT holders aspired to the same routine engineering managerial jobs. Academic staff also became separate with more engineering teaching assistants being involved with the NDT and PhD holders mainly with the degree. The NDT/Engineering hostilities date back to the 1990s. A violent clash occurred in March 1999, hospitalising students and causing the campus to temporarily close. In 2000 a recommendation was made to separate the NDT and Engineering students and [CLICK} an Institute of Technology was formed with an interim Board of Management. A site at Diyagama was purchased, but for 13 years the plans to move NDT students to Diyagama did not materialise due to limited resources and differences of opinion. It finally occurred in 2017 after constructing well equipped labs at Diyagama, Homagama.

31. The University of Moratuwa continues to grow with the addition of a building for the Town & Country Planning in 2015 a Architecture Building completed in 2016, New Administration Building in September 2017, phase 2 of the Faculty of Information Technology in 2016, a new building for Textile Technology in March 2019 and a Building for Building Economics in June 2021. The Rubert Peiris building in which these celebrations are held taking place was opened in December 2022.

32. Having started as a University 50 years ago, for the first 30 years or so the University of Moratuwa was known only for its Engineering and Architecture degrees, until a faculty was established for Information Technology in 2001 which closely followed the practices of Engineering. It was only 15 years later that a Faculty of Graduate Studies was established. From then onwards, two new faculties, those of Business and of Medicine broadened the scope of the University. The Faculty of Business was established in June 2017 to produce graduates who will be ready to take the businesses to a higher level. It has three departments including the Department of Management of Technology transferred from the Faculty of Engineering.Faculty of Medicine is the latest faculty to be set up at Moratuwa in February 2020 and is the only Faculty in the country to have a Department of Medical Technology. Technology for Medicine stream is novel and has been incorporated to the curriculum with a vision to promote the development of new technology offering better and more cost-effective health-care solutions. The first batch of medical students was enlisted in 2021.

33. Let me present to you a satellite map of the University of Moratuwa, with most of the buildings labelled.

34. Let me now look at the growth of degree students at the University. conclude my talk with the growth of degree students at the University. While in 1966, 70 degree level students entered Katubedda to follow the DipTech course to graduate after gaining university status in 1972, the University has an undergraduate student population of 10,654 in 2022 with 2345 undergraduate students being admitted in early 2022. In particular, I will consider the growth of Electrical Engineering graduates from the first batch in 1972 with 7 graduates to that 50 years later in 2021 with the number hovering around the 100 mark. I have also plotted the growth of the Sri Lankan population alongside for comparison, which shows a much rapid increase compared to population growth from around 2010 onwards. Further, it is seen that the cumulative growth of electrical engineering graduates over the 50 years is even marginally less than the annual intake to the University of Moratuwa.

35. It is important that happenings in the University be made known to the University staff as well as the rest of the world promptly. University News is such a document. When I was in the Committee of the University Teachers’s Association Katubedda, we made the bold move to bring out a regular news bulleting commencing in November 1977, and which was even posted to members overseas. In 1999, I initiated an online News in the electrical engineering website, which was read by many, even overseas. The News was quite often published by me within an hour of the event to keep it up to date. Having done it for around 15 years, it is continued. The University now publishes a bimonthly newsletter which gives information presented in a more appealing manner.

36. Let me select a few world renowned individuals whom I know who graduated from the Faculties at Moratuwa,
Prof Abhaya S Induruwa graduated in Electrical Engineering in 1974 and served as the Director of Centre for Cybercrime & Security Innovation in the School of Law, Criminal Justice and Computing at Canterbury Christ Church University in the UK for many years. Professor Induruwa pioneered LEARN currently used by all academics and is considered the father of Internet in Sri Lanka. In 2014 he was inducted to the Internet Hall of Fame.
Prof. Chitra Weddikkara graduated in Architecture in 1975 and an internationally renowned personality in the construction sector and has held prestigious posts in many professional institutions in both Quantity Surveying as well as Architecture.
Prof Harindra Joseph S. Fernando graduated in Mechanical Engineering in 1979. He is an Endowed Professor of Engineering and Geosciences at University of Notre Dame and holds joint appointments in the Departments of Civil and Environmental Engineering & Earth Sciences and Aerospace & Mechanical Engineering. Professor Fernando received the Doctor Honoris Causa from the University of Joseph Fourier/University of Grenoble, France (2014) and in 2016 he was awarded Doctor of Laws Honoris Causa by the University of Dundee, Scotland. He is also an elected member of the European Academy.

37. Prof Priyan Mendis graduated in Civil Engineering in 1982. He is the Director of the ARC Centre for Advanced Manufacturing of Prefabricated Modular Housing and the Leader of the Advanced Protective Technology of Engineering Structures Group. He is a world leader in Innovative Construction methods such as Prefabricated structures, Tall Buildings, Durability of Concrete Structures, Advanced Materials for Construction including Waste Materials, Protective Technology of structures, Wind, Earthquakes, Fire and Blast
Prof Janaka Ruwanpura graduated in Quantity Surveying in 1992. He is the Vice-Provost - International at the University of Calgary. He was a full professor and Canada Research Chair (CRC) in Project Management Systems (2007-13) in the Schulich School of Engineering before he became the Vice-Provost. He is the Founding Director of the Centre for Project Management Excellence and has been the Director of Project Management since 2005.
Dhanika Perera graduated in Computer Scienc and Engineering in 2013. He is an Award-winning Serial Entrepreneur. He founded Bhasha Lanka in 2011 as a Digital Technology company and PayHere in 2016 as a Financial Technology Company to break through the online payment barriers in Sri Lanka. Helakuru empowers more than 5 million Sri Lankans to express their selves in Sinhala on Digital space and PayHere empowers thousands of Sri Lankan businesses to accept digital payments conveniently. He has been awarded the mBillionth South Asian Award in 2011.

New. Professor Mohan Edirisinghe holds the Bonfield Chair of Biomaterials in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at University College London and has served as a University of London professor for over 20 years. He has actively pursued advanced materials processing, forming and manufacturing research, with a H-index of 70 and over 17,500 citations as at November 2022. He has supervised over 250 researchers, graduating over 100 doctoral students. His research has won many prizes including the Royal Society Brian Mercer (Innovation) Feasibility Award, the 2010 Materials Science Venture Prize and the 2012 Presidents Prize of the UK Biomaterials Society to recognise outstanding contributions to the biomaterials field. In 2020, he was elected as a Fellow of The European Academy of Sciences. In the Queens New Year Honours 2021 he was appointed OBE for his services to Biomedical Engineering.

38. Let me climax by presenting an Engineer whom I think is most worthy of emulating Eng Upali D Jayawardena who was in the first batch to enter in 1972 and who graduated in Electrical Engineering in 1976. He undertook an innovative final year group project on the design and construction of an Insulator under my personal supervision and is ever grateful to the University. He is today a Major Sponsor of Engineering Events as Corporate Social Responsibility and has even sponsored the major renovation of the Rohan Lucas High Voltage Lab at the University. Soon after graduation, while he was at the Transformer Factory of the CEB he envisaged the need for manufacturing indigenous transformers and got the Government of Sri Lanka to invest in a subsidiary Lanka Transformers Ltd. He also realized that this would create employment opportunities for our Engineers. In fact, he has already employed around 300 Engineers from Moratuwa, with perhaps 75% being on my personal recommendation. Having joined the new company as its first Design Engineer in 1980, in he became its General Manager/Chief Executive Officer in 1989. Since then, Eng. Jayawardana has been instrumental in driving the company to be the largest power sector company in Sri Lanka. Under his leadership, LTL Holdings developed into a diversified engineering group consisting of transformer manufacturing, galvanizing, power generation, project management and transmission line and substation construction. Most recently he has led its subsidiary Lakdhanavi to undertake the first 350MW LNG Combine Cycle Power Plant in Sri Lanka using local Engineers. His style of leadership in allowing his Engineers to take calculated risks, while defending their actions to the outside world, has borne much fruit. He has also taken the initiative to develop very successful power projects overseas with many in Bangladesh and becoming the largest foreign power plant owner in Bangladesh. The map shows the global operational footprint that Eng Jayawardena has built. To top it all the LTL group revenue has grown exponentially, to over rupees 40 billion in 2022 and the turnover from foreign operations rising to 77%. Eng UD Jayawardena had the bravery, courage, integrity and vision and believed in local talent, empowering them with responsibilities and wanting to sell engineering knowledge of Sri Lankans to overseas. Today there are many entrepreneurs in power sector who are his former employees recommended by me, like Prof Anura Wijayapala who became the Chairman of CEB, and Eng. Manjula Perera who is a major driving force in the renewable power generation sector both in Sri Lanka and Overseas. Let me conclude saying that Eng UD Jayawardena is worthy of emulation

39. Thank you for listening