Vice-Chancellor’s message - Easter Sunday and the Sinhala & Tamil New Year

Dear Students, Staff, and Alumni of UoC

I extend to you my warmest greetings with regards to Easter Sunday and the upcoming Sinhala & Tamil New Year. May you be showered with the best of health, happiness, and peace of mind.

We have exceeded 365 days since COVID19, which demanded fundamental changes to the ways in which our university functions. I acknowledge your co-operation and resilience with gratitude when facing many challenges that were overcome following multiple bi-directional discussions. On the whole, when looking back – the UoC has held its head high, celebrated important milestones, engaged in many international collaborations, and been recognized nationally and internationally for our achievements. I wish to place on record my sincere gratitude to the members of Council, Senate, Rectors, Deans, Librarian, and Directors along with Registrar and Bursar led central administration, Heads of Departments and the multitude of academic staff, administrators and support staff, our alumni and students for their consistent and cohesive cooperation.

The digital transformation helped us overcome many barriers. However, there remain deficits that still require our due attention. The Ministry of Education, UGC, and alumni are continuing to support us to improve the ICT infrastructure and obtain the necessary hardware to enable quality education. Our focus on research and development, with a special emphasis on innovation, intellectual property rights, and commercialization, is being upscaled. It is our firm belief that the role of our university should not be confined to knowledge transfer but to encourage knowledge creation and thereby ensure a value-added education. I am very grateful to our career guidance unit for addressing the key areas of personal development that are required in this respect.

Being an accountable university, we have more recently addressed the required ‘code of conduct’ when using social media. This is mainly to protect our students, who require many an adjustment to university life and adult learning through digital connectivity. Please be informed that we wholeheartedly value your freedom of expression; decency and responsibility being foremost in your university life. Social media is like a double-edged sword. Don’t hurt yourself. Think hard before you post anything in anger. Please remember that what goes on social media will stay there for good and be accessed by those for whom it was not intended.

With respect to health and safety from COVID19, I reiterate the guidelines prepared by the UMO and members of the Faculty of Medicine in concurrence with the Presidential Task Force and the Ministry of Health, in relation to day-to-day safety measures throughout your stay in the hostels, university and learning environment. While being conscious of competing priorities of the ongoing country-wide vaccination program, we remain hopeful that those among us who are yet to be vaccinated will receive their injection shortly.

I take this opportunity to convey seasonal greetings and my very best wishes to you for a restful holiday break with your family.

Stay safe!

Chandrika Wijeyaratne
Vice Chancellor

UPDATED: 14:47