Deshamanya Emeritus Professor WD Lakshman

His research over a period of forty years covered a wide range of subjects including poverty, growth, equity, unemployment, public enterprises, structural adjustment policies, agriculture and industrial development, rural development, international trade, international finance and globalization. Professor Lakshman’s contribution to the development of human resources in the Department of Economics and more generally to the promotion and up-grading of economic teaching in the country is extensively recognized. In this endeavour, a Dutch Government funded project of collaboration between the Colombo Department of Economics and the Institute of Social Studies in the Hague from 1987 to 2000 was enormously helpful and Professor Lakshman’s contribution to the development and management of this foreign aid project was of far-reaching significance. Due to these efforts, by the time Professor Lakshman retired from university service, the Economics Department of Colombo had become the uncontested leader in economics teaching in the entire university system in Sri Lanka in terms of the number of qualified teachers, quality of teaching and the variety of postgraduate courses on offer.
Professor Lakshman was appointed a Research Professor at the Faculty of Graduate Studies in March 1991 and subsequently, he was appointed the Dean of the Faculty in September 1991. As the Dean, Professor Lakshman made significant changes to the structure of the Faculty of Graduate Studies and introduced many postgraduate courses in several multi-disciplinary areas. Professor Lakshman was appointed Vice-Chancellor of the University of Colombo on 19/12/1994 and held this office with distinction up to the end of March 1999, when he resigned from this position in order to take up a Visiting Professor assignment at a Japanese university. During his period as Vice-Chancellor, he was instrumental in re-structuring the undergraduate programmes at the faculty of Arts. The semester-based modular system was introduced to the University of Colombo during his tenure. He also contributed a great deal to the development of the University, particularly in areas such as postgraduate education, link programmes, staff development and infrastructure development. A number of building projects were either initiated or carried out during his term of office. The main Library Building stands as a monument to his efforts. Another foreign-funded research project initiated due to the efforts of Professor Lakshman was instrumental in bringing to the University the Project widely known within the university as the JICA Project.
The establishment of the Staff Development Centre (SDC) for the capacity and skills development of both academic and non-academic staff of the university was a noteworthy contribution of Professor Lakshman. The Centre continues to excel further and some of its qualifications are accepted by a coordinating agency of university staff development centres in Britain. The SDC of Colombo provides training facilities to the entire university system in Sri Lanka. The Career Guidance Unit, the Graduate Foundation, Research Management Unit and various other projects were established under the guidance during Professor Lakshman’s tenure of office as Vice Chancellor. The community service projects in Kurunegala and Weligatte were established during Professor Lakshman’s period as Vice-Chancellor. The Weligatte Project has been converted into a fully-fledged Institute for Agro-Technology and Rural Sciences in 2008. The Western Campus at Horana later renamed as Sri Palee Campus of the University of Colombo was another initiative of Professor Lakshman as Vice Chancellor. In 1998, Professor Lakshman was appointed the “S. W Brooks Visiting Professor of Queensland University, Australia, a Professor in the Faculty of Economics of Ryukoku University, Japan for a period of two years in 1999, and a Professor in the Faculty of Economics, Saga University, Japan in 2004.
Professor Lakshman’s involvement in policy-related activities was extensive. At different times in his career, he held the positions of a Member of the National Task Force for Industrial Development, Member of the National Task Force for Educational Reforms, Member and Vice Chairman of the National Development Council and Board Member of Sri Lanka Foundation Institute, and Chairman of the National Institute of Business Management. His involvement in non-governmental sector activities included honorary chairmanships at Social Scientists Association and International Centre for Ethnic Studies. After retirement from university service, he held the position of Senior Advisor at the Ministry of Finance & Planning for two years at the invitation of the government and now holds the position of Chairman of the Institute of Policy Studies the invitation.
In recognition of his excellent services towards national development Professor Lakshman was honoured with the title of “Deshamanya” in 2005. Professor Lakshman’s forty-three years-long academic career of which twenty-five years were as Professor and Senior Professor was concluded on 27th October 2007. The University of Colombo taking into consideration the excellent academic career of Professor Lakshman granted him the title of Emeritus Professor in 2008. His colleagues and friends have joined together to edit and publish two separate felicitation volumes in his honour, one in English and the other in Sinhala. The University of Colombo, in recognition and appreciation of the excellent services rendered by Professor W. D. Lakshman to Higher Education in particular and to the country in general, conferred on him the Degree of Doctor of Letters (Honoris Causa) at the convocation of the University of Colombo in 2008.