University of the Visual and Performing Arts (UVPA) ( si, සෞන්දර්ය හා කලා විශ්වවිද්‍යාලය, ta, கட்புல, அரங்கேற்றக் கலைகள் பல்கலைக்கழகம்) is a

public university A public university or public college is a university or college that is in state ownership, owned by the state or receives significant government spending, public funds through a national or subnational government, as opposed to a private unive ...

located primarily in

Colombo Colombo ( ; si, කොළඹ, translit=Koḷam̆ba, ; ta, கொழும்பு, translit=Koḻumpu, ) is the executive and judicial capital and largest city of Sri Lanka by population. According to the Brookings Institution, Colombo m ...

, Sri Lanka, specialising in

art Art is a diverse range of human activity, and resulting product, that involves creative or imaginative talent expressive of technical proficiency, beauty, emotional power, or conceptual ideas. There is no generally agreed definition of wha ...

design A design is a plan or specification for the construction of an object or system or for the implementation of an activity or process or the result of that plan or specification in the form of a prototype, product, or process. The verb ''to design' ...

, fashion and the performing arts. It was formerly known as the Government College of Fine Arts, Heywood Institute of Art and the Institute of Aesthetic Studies of the

University of Ceylon The University of Ceylon was the only university in Sri Lanka (earlier Ceylon) from 1942 until 1972. It had several constituent campuses at various locations around Sri Lanka. The University of Ceylon Act No. 1 of 1972, replaced it with the Unive ...

. It has no known date of foundation, but there is evidence of teaching as far back as 1893. It is the only university in Sri Lanka to exclusively offer special degree programs in visual and performing arts.

History

Colonial

The origin of the University of the Visual and Performing Arts can be traced back to 1893, the era in which the

Ceylon Technical College Maradana College of Technology is the oldest technical college in Sri Lanka. Formally known as the Ceylon Technical College which was an institution of higher education for Technical and Scientific fields in Ceylon and a government department. It ...

was established. Drawing and Design were among the first courses to be taught there. Approximately five decades later, on 1 October 1949, the Department of Arts and Aesthetics shifted its locality from Horton Place to Heywood College. The restructuring of the university system in Sri Lanka affiliated the institute to the

University of Kelaniya Pannaya Parisujjhati , mottoeng = Self-purification is by insight , established = 1875 Vidyalankara Pirivena1959 Vidyalankara University , type = Public , endowment = , adminis ...

in 1980. A Special Gazette Notice formally announced the creation of the University of the Visual and Performing Arts on 1 July 2005.

Sarath Amunugama Sarath Amunugama, JP is a leading Sri Lankan academic, who is a professor of French and the founding Vice-Chancellor of the University of the Visual & Performing Arts, Colombo. He is a former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Kelaniya. Amu ...

was assigned as First Vice Chancellor. The University of the Visual and Performing Art has a history spanning over 120 years. The origin of the University of the Visual and Performing Arts can be traced back to 1893, the era in which the Ceylon Technical College was established. Among the first courses to be taught at the college were Drawing and Painting. On 1 October 1949, the Department of Drawing and Painting moved from the Technical College at Maradana to the ‘Heywood’ building at Horton place and was subsequently renamed as the ‘School of Art’. A diploma in Fine Arts was awarded to students upon the completion of five years of study. Prominent painter and teacher J.D.A. Perera was the first Principal of this institution. On 2 July 1952, Music and Dance were included in to the curriculum and the institute became named as the ‘Government College of Fine Arts’. On 1 October 1953, the Departments of Music and Dance were moved to 21, Albert Crescent in Colombo 7, while the Art and Sculpture courses continued to be conducted at the ‘Heywood’ Building. Three years after this, in 1956, this institution was once again renamed as the ‘National Institute of Arts’and it was taken under the purview of Ministry of Education and converted into three schools, namely, School of Art and sculpture, School of Music and School of Dancing and Ballet. All schools came under the administration of Dr. Stanley Abeysinghe, Dr. Lionel Edirisinghe and Dr. S. Panibharatha respectively. As a result of the first university Act of 1972, the institution became known as the Institute of Aesthetic studies and got affiliated to the

in 1974. The Institute had 03 Schools and an Academy, namely : School of Art and Sculpture, School of Music and School of Dancing and Ballet, and the Ramanathan Academy of Jaffna. In 1975, the Ramanathan Academy became affiliated with the

University of Jaffna The University of Jaffna ( ta, யாழ்ப்பாணப் பல்கலைக்கழகம், translit=Yāḻppāṇap Palkalaikkaḻakam; si, යාපනය විශ්වවිද්‍යාලය, ''Yāpanaya Viśvavidyālaya''; ...

. For the first time, in 1978, 63 students were awarded the’ Bachelor of Arts’ degree. Consequently, the restructuring of the University System in Sri Lanka brought about the affiliation of this Institute to th
University of Kelaniya
in 1980.

University status

The special Gazette notice issued by her Excellency the President of Sri Lanka formally announced the establishment of the University of Visual and Performing Arts with effect from 1 July 2005. This university was founded in order to promote and develop the

Visual The visual system comprises the sensory organ (the eye) and parts of the central nervous system (the retina containing photoreceptor cells, the optic nerve, the optic tract and the visual cortex) which gives organisms the sense of sight (th ...

and

Creative Arts The arts are a very wide range of human practices of creative expression, storytelling and cultural participation. They encompass multiple diverse and plural modes of thinking, doing and being, in an extremely broad range of media. Both ...

as well as to offer recognized higher educational qualifications in these spheres of study. The President appointed Dr.

Lester James Peiris Sri Lankabhimanya Lester James Peries ( Sinhala: ශ්‍රී ලංකාභිමාන්‍ය ලෙස්ටර් ජේම්ස් පීරිස්; 5 April 1919 – 29 April 2018) was a Sri Lankan film director, screenwriter, a ...

and Professor Sarath Amunugama as the first Chancellor and Vice Chancellor respectively. The university consists of three faculties, Dance and Drama, Music and Visual Arts and Jayasena Kottagoda, Sanath Nandasiri and Sarath Gunasiri Perera were elected as the first Deans of the faculties respectively.

21st century

There are 22 departments functioning under these three faculties. The present Chancellor of the university is

Sanath Nandasiri Prof. Sangeeth Nipun Herath Mudiyanselage Sanath Nandasiri (born 15 February 1942): si, සනත් නන්දසිරි) is a Sri Lankan singer, musician, music director, composer and playback singer. He is the current Chancellor of the U ...

and the Vice Chancellor is Jayasena Kottagoda, the first Vice Chancellor who is a former student of this institution. They were elected in to office in 2008. Currently, in his second term as Vice Chancellor to the UVPA, Kottagoda was also the first Professor, Senior Professor of this university apart from holding the post of the initial Dean of the Faculty of Dance and Drama.

Governance and administration

The University of the Visual and Performing Arts is a

state university A state university system in the United States is a group of public universities supported by an individual state, territory or federal district. These systems constitute the majority of public-funded universities in the country. State univer ...

and depends on the government for much of its annual grant, which is provided by the University Grants Commission (UGC). Due to this, its administration is heavily influenced by the UGC. Undergraduate education is completely free. The Governance of the university is under the provisions of the Universities Act No. 16 of 1978 and the Universities (Amendment) Act No. 7 of 1985 along with its own by-laws. The university's administration is based upon that of the former

consisting of a dual structure of bodies: the council (formally known as the University Court which is the governing body) and the Academic Senate (academic affairs). Much of the appointments to officers and faculty are carried out by these bodies, however on the recommendations of the UGC.

Officers of the university

;Chancellor The Chancellor is the head of the university and awards all degrees, although most duties are carried out by the Vice-Chancellor. The appointment is made by the President of Sri Lanka, to a distinguished person in academics, clergy or in the civil society. The chancellor is Prof. Sanath Nandasiri. ;Vice-Chancellor Day-to-day management of the university is undertaken by the

Vice-Chancellor A chancellor is a leader of a college or university, usually either the executive or ceremonial head of the university or of a university campus within a university system. In most Commonwealth and former Commonwealth nations, the chancellor ...

, appointed by the President of Sri Lanka. The current Vice-Chancellor is Prof. Sarath Chandrajeewa.

Past Chancellors and Vice-Chancellors

;Chancellors # Dr.

# Pandith

W. D. Amaradeva Sri Lankabhimanya Wannakuwattawaduge Don Albert Perera ( si, වන්නකුවත්තවඩුගේ දොන් ඇල්බට් පෙරේරා; ta, டபிள்யூ. டி. அமரதேவா; 5 December 1927 – 3 Nov ...

;Vice-Chancellors # Prof.

# Prof. Jayasena Kottagoda # Prof. Ariyaratne Kaluarachchi # Snr. Prof. Sarath Chandrajeewa # Snr. Prof. Rohana P Mahaliyanaarachchi - Current Vice-Chancellor

Notable people

Alumni

Nuwandhika Senarathne Nuwandhika Senarathne (born 23 June 1993) is a Sri Lankan singer and television personality who is most known as a playback singer, as well as a performer of Soprano Opera and Ghazals. She rose to fame as the 1st runner-up of the reality TV show ...

* Sujatha Attanayake *

Gunadasa Kapuge Ellamulla Kapuge Gunadasa ( Sinhala: ගුණදාස කපුගේ; 7 August 1945–3 April 2003) popularly known as Gunadasa Kapuge, was a Sri Lankan singer, musician, music director and playback singer. He was well known among Sri Lankan ...

Titus Thotawatte Thotawattege Don Manuel Titus de Silva ( Sinhala:ටයිටස් තොටවත්ත), popularly as Titus Thotawatte, was a Sri Lankan director and editor who made several popular Sri Lankan action movies in the 1960s and 1970s and later ...

* Priya Suriyasena * Tissa Ranasinghe *

Malani Bulathsinhala Malani Bulathsinhala (12 December 1949 - 29 March 2001: si, මාලනී බුලත්සිංහල) was a Sri Lankan singer. She began her musical career at age 10 with the Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation. Personal life Bulathsin ...

Mahagama Sekara Mahagama Sekera (Mahagamage Sekara) ( Sinhala:මහගම සේකර / මහගමගේ සේකර ) (7 April 1929 – 14 January 1976) Sri Lankan poet, lyricist, playwright, novelist, artist, translator and filmmaker. He is considered ...

Rohana Weerasinghe DR. Rohana Weerasinghe (born February 18, 1949), is a Sri Lankan musician, composer and singer. Early life Weerasinghe was born on 18 February 1949 in Algiriya, Matara in southern Sri Lanka. He was the youngest child to his parents Henry Weer ...

* Tilake Abeysinghe