:Ceylon University College

In the nineteenth century the only institutions to offer higher education in Ceylon were the Ceylon Medical College, Ceylon Law College and a small number of schools which offered undergraduate courses followed by external examinations for Indian or British universities. The country's elite would send their children to be educated at British universities.{{cite book|title=A History of the University in Europe: Volume 3, Universities in the Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Centuries (1800-1945)|year=2004|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=0521361052|pages=207–208|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=entlN4EEPUYC|editor=Walter Rüegg}} Demand started growing for the establishment of a university in Ceylon. The Ceylon University Association was formed in 1906 by a group of the country's elite including Ponnambalam Arunachalam, James Peiris and Marcus Fernando.[http://www.ourcivilisation.com/cooray/peiris/public.htm Sir James Peiris (Public Life: The Ceylon University)], by L.J.M. Cooray (Ourcivilisation Web), Retrieved on 28 November 2014{{cite news|last=de Silva|first=Eric J.|title=University Education:The Peradeniya Model and its demise|url=http://www.island.lk/index.php?page_cat=article-details&page=article-details&code_title=17305|newspaper=The Island (Sri Lanka)|date=1 February 2011}} In June 1911 Governor Henry McCallum appointed a ten-member sub-committee of the Legislative Council of Ceylon to look into education in Ceylon.{{sfn|Ceylon University College|1936|p=2}}{{sfn|Ratnapala|1991|p=89}} The Macleod Committee finished its work in 1912 and amongst its recommendations were that a university college be established to centralise the country's fragmented higher education system. McCallum accepted the committee's recommendations and submitted the proposals to the Secretary of State for the Colonies and the Board of Education.{{sfn|Ceylon University College|1936|p=2}} The proposals were sent back with questions which were in turn answered by Robert Chalmers, McCallum's successor.{{sfn|Ceylon University College|1936|p=2}} The college would be called Ceylon University College and would be based in the buildings of Royal College, Colombo.{{sfn|Ceylon University College|1936|p=2}} It would be affiliated to an English university, preferably the University of Oxford, and would offer general higher education including courses in arts and sciences for trainee teachers and preliminary courses in chemistry, physics and biology for medical students.{{sfn|Ceylon University College|1936|p=2}} The college was to be residential and hostels would be provided by the government.{{sfn|Ceylon University College|1936|p=2}} The college was to be open to women.{{sfn|Ceylon University College|1936|p=2}} The college would in due course be converted into a degree-granting university.{{sfn|Ceylon University College|1936|p=2}} The proposals were accepted by the Secretary of State.{{sfn|Ceylon University College|1936|p=3}} World War I and the resulting increases in prices put a halt to the project.{{sfn|Ceylon University College|1936|p=3}}

The project was resurrected in 1917 and provision was made in the 1917/18 budget for construction of new facilities and purchase of equipment.{{sfn|Ceylon University College|1936|p=3}} However, work was slow and in May 1920 the government purchased Regina Walauwa, a private house on Thurstan Road, for use by the college.{{sfn|Ceylon University College|1936|p=3}}{{cite news|last=Samaraweera|first=Chandrabhanu|title=The Sinhala Marriage which joined the South and Colombo|url=http://www.island.lk/index.php?page_cat=article-details&page=article-details&code_title=55675|newspaper=The Island (Sri Lanka)|date=30 June 2012}}[https://archives.sundayobserver.lk/2004/01/18/fea16.html Now a showcase of fabulous mansions] by Padma Edirisinghe, Sunday Observer (Sri Lanka), Retrieved on 28 November 2014 Regina Walauwa was later renamed College House.{{sfn|Ceylon University College|1936|p=3}} E. B. Denham, the local director of education, decided that the college should open immediately, using College House as lecture rooms whilst the Royal College buildings were completed.{{sfn|Ceylon University College|1936|p=3}} Provision was made in the 1920/21 budget for the running of the college which officially opened on 24 January 1921.{{sfn|Ceylon University College|1936|p=3}}{{cite journal|last=Breckenridge|first=W. R.|title=A bibliography and brief biography of Wifred S. Fernando, Professor of Zoology, University of Ceylon, 1948-1963|journal=Ceylon Journal of Science (Biological Sciences)|year=1998|volume=26|pages=59–65|url=http://dl.nsf.ac.lk/bitstream/1/7664/2/CJS%28B.S%29-26-59.pdf|publisher=University of Peradeniya}} The college was not affiliated to the University of Oxford as originally proposed, but instead offered courses for the University of London's Intermediate and Final examinations.{{sfn|Ratnapala|1991|p=89}}{{sfn|Ceylon University College|1936|p=3}} Edwin Evans, the acting director of education, was the college's first principal.{{sfn|Ceylon University College|1936|p=3}} All classes were held at College House except science which was taught at Government Technical Schools.{{sfn|Ceylon University College|1936|p=3}} 115 students were registered at the college in its first academic year at the end of which eight students sat the University of London's examinations, seven of whom passed.{{sfn|Ceylon University College|1936|p=3}}{{sfn|Ceylon University College|1936|p=49}}

Robert Marrs succeeded the director of education as principal at the beginning of the 1921/22 academic year.{{sfn|Ceylon University College|1936|p=3}}{{sfn|Ratnapala|1991|p=90}}{{cite news|last=Dharmasena|first=G. T.|title=Who was Jennings and what was his contribution to Peradeniya?|url=http://www.island.lk/2007/10/22/features1.html|newspaper=The Island (Sri Lanka)|date=22 October 2007}} The University College laboratories were opened by Governor William Manning on 1 October 1921 and the teaching of science was transferred from Government Technical Schools to the new laboratories.{{sfn|Ceylon University College|1936|p=4}} The Christian Hostel (Brodie House, Bagatelle Road) and Union Hostel (Guildford Crescent) were opened in October 1922 whilst the Catholic Hostel (Havelock Road) opened in November 1922.{{sfn|Ceylon University College|1936|p=4}} The Old Royal College Building was transferred to the college in October 1923 and teaching of arts was transferred from College House to the Old Royal College Building.{{sfn|Ceylon University College|1936|p=4}} A hostel for women students (Cruden, Queen's Road) opened in June 1932.{{sfn|Ceylon University College|1936|p=5}} Ivor Jennings became principal in 1940.{{cite news|last=Dewaraja|first=Lorna|title=From scholarship boy to Vice Chancellor|url=http://www.sundaytimes.lk/060326/plus/books.html|newspaper=The Sunday Times (Sri Lanka)|date=26 March 2006}}

The college had always been intended to be a stepping stone to a fully fledged degree-granting university.{{sfn|Ceylon University College|1936|p=3}}{{sfn|Ratnapala|1991|p=89}} In February 1924 the legislative council set aside Rs. 3 million for the creation of such a university.{{sfn|Ceylon University College|1936|p=4}} Marrs had prepared a draft university ordinance, based on the Sadler Commission, by 1925.{{sfn|Ratnapala|1991|p=90}} However, the establishment of the university was delayed by disputes over its location. Ceylon University College was based on an {{frac|18|1|2}}-acre site in Colombo which was inadequate for a university. Marrs favoured a non-residential university based in Colombo.{{sfn|Ratnapala|1991|p=91}} Others, including P. Arunachalam, D. B. Jayatilaka, D. R. Wijewardena and S. C. Paul, favoured Peradeniya or Kandy because of their climate and they had ample cheap land.{{sfn|Ratnapala|1991|p=90}} Governor Hugh Clifford appointed a committee to investigate a site for the university. The committee recommended that the university should be residential and be based at Uyanawatta near Kandy.{{sfn|Ratnapala|1991|p=91}} In 1927 the legislative council resolved that the university should be located in the Dumbara Valley near Kandy and requested the government appoint a commission (the Buchanen-Riddel Commission) to formulate the details.{{sfn|Ratnapala|1991|p=91}} A draft constitution for the university was prepared in 1930.

The legislative council was replaced by the State Council of Ceylon in 1931, and responsibility for the establishment of the university was entrusted to the State Council's various executive committees. In 1937 the State Council approved a motion by George E. de Silva for the university to be located at Aruppola near Kandy.{{sfn|Ratnapala|1991|p=91}} However, Paul and Andreas Nell argued that the site should be in Peradeniya not Aruppola, and they were now supported by Marrs.{{sfn|Ratnapala|1991|p=91}} Eventually Peradeniya was chosen to be the site and it was decided the university would be residential.{{sfn|Ratnapala|1991|p=92}} The Buchanen-Riddel Commission's recommendations were incorporated into the Ceylon University Ordinance No. 20 of 1942 which established the University of Ceylon on 1 July 1942 by amalgamating Ceylon University College with Ceylon Medical College.{{sfn|Ratnapala|1991|p=92}}{{cite news|last=Abeygunawardene|first=H.|title=University of Peradeniya - more open than usual|url=http://www.dailynews.lk/2002/12/23/fea01.html|newspaper=Daily News (Sri Lanka)|date=23 December 2002|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050527001945/http://www.dailynews.lk/2002/12/23/fea01.html|archive-date=27 May 2005}}{{cite news|last=Banduwardena|first=Rupa|title=University of Ceylon, Peradeniya – its glorious past|url=https://archives.sundayobserver.lk/2011/10/09/spe05.asp|newspaper=Sunday Observer (Sri Lanka)|date=9 October 2011|access-date=2013-08-27|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130208080758/http://www.sundayobserver.lk/2011/10/09/spe05.asp|archive-date=2013-02-08|url-status=live}}

{{See|List of Ceylon University College people}}

{{Reflist|2}}

• {{cite book|title=Ceylon University College Prospectus 1936-37|year=1936|publisher=Ceylon University College|url=http://www.noolaham.org/wiki/index.php?title=Ceylon_University_College_Prospectus_1939_-_37 |ref={{sfnref|Ceylon University College|1936}} }}
• {{cite journal|last=Ratnapala|first=Noeline S.|title=Beginnings of University Education in Sri Lanka; in Retrospect|journal=Vidyodaya Journal of Social Science|year=1991|volume=5|issue=1&2|url=http://www.lib.sjp.ac.lk/Documents/Past%20Publications/V.5%20No.1&2%201991/Article%205.pdf}}{{dead link|date=August 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}

{{Universities in Sri Lanka}}

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Category:1921 establishments in Ceylon

Category:Defunct universities and colleges in Sri Lanka

Category:Universities and colleges established in 1921

Category:Educational institutions disestablished in 1942

Category:Universities and colleges in Colombo