Faculty of Arts, University of Peradeniya is the largest single faculty in the entire university system of Sri Lanka.

Location Foundation of Departments of the Faculty of Arts, University of Peradeniya Department Year Founded Department of Classical Languages 1942 Department of English 1942 Department of Geography 1942 Department of History 1942 Department of Philosophy 1942 Department of Oriental Languages (Dissolved in 1943) 1942 Department of Economics 1942 Department of Tamil 1943 Department of Pali 1943 Department of Sanskrit 1943 Department of Sinhalese 1943 Department of Law 1945 Department of Arabic 1945 Department of Sociology 1949 Department of Education 1949 Department of Modern Languages 1949 Department of Archaeology 1959 Department of Buddhist Philosophy 1964 Department of Fine Arts 2001 Department of Management Studies 2002 Faculty of Arts is located approximately in the middle of the university's main campus. Faculty is about two kilometres away from the Galaha junction in the Galaha road. It is well known for its supreme natural beauty.

History Faculty's history dates back to the beginning of Sri Lanka's university system. Sri Lanka's first university, University of Ceylon is established in 1942 under the guidance of Sir Ivor Jennings. Faculty of Arts and Faculty of Oriental Studies were two of the 4 academic faculties in the university. They were located in Colombo at the beginning. With the establishment of the Peradeniya campus, those faculties were brought to Peradeniya in 1952. The two faculties operated separately until they were amalgamated in 1972. Academic programs Faculty of Arts offers a number of undergraduate and postgraduate degrees. Undergraduate study Faculty has 16 academic departments for undergraduate study. Traditional degrees offered at undergraduate level are; Bachelor of Arts (General), Bachelor of Arts (Special) – in 18 different disciplines and Bachelor of Commerce. Other than that, faculty has started conducting two new degree programs, Bachelor of Business Administration and LLB in recent years. Departments of the Arts faculty Arts faculty of the University of Perdeniya has 18 departments, Units and centers. Those departments are separately established for provide course enrollments. S.No Departments and Units avenue 01 Department of Archaeology Main Arts building (MA) 02 Department of Arabic and Islamic civilization Main Arts building (MA) 03 Department of Classical Languages Main Arts building (MA) 04 Department of Economic and Statistics New Arts Building (NA) 05 Department of Education Jasuriya Building (JB) 06 Department of English Main Arts building (MA) 07 Department of Fine Arts A-4 Building 08 Department of Geography Geography Building (GB) 09 Department of History Main Arts building (MA) 10 Department of Law A-5 Building 11 Department of Management Studies New Arts Building (NA) 12 Department of Pali and Buddhist Studies Main Arts building (MA) 13 Department of Philosophy and Physoclogy New Arts Building (NA) 14 Department of Political Science New Arts Building (NA) 15 Department of Sinhalese Main Arts building (MA) 16 Department of Sociology New Arts Building (NA) 17 Department of Tamil Main Arts building (MA) 18 Post Graduate Unit Post Graduate Building (PG) 19 English Language teaching Unit Main Arts building (MA)

Postgraduate study Postgraduate degrees leading to Master of Arts (M.A.), Master of Philosophy (M.Phil.) and Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) and several Postgraduate Diplomas are also offered. Study programs are conducted in all English, Sinhala and Tamil media.

Library Main library of University of Peradeniya serves primarily the Arts faculty. It is one of the largest libraries in Sri Lanka containing more than 800,000 items.

Organization

Dean is the head of the academic and non-academic staff. Heads of departments, the assistant registrar, bursar several other key officers work under the dean.

Architecture

Faculty of Arts, University of Peradeniya is also known for its architecture. The Senate building, located within the faculty, is constructed on hundreds of stone pillars. Each of them contains traditional carvings of Sri Lanka. Other than that, the seven-floor library building and Sarachchandra open-air theatre are notable constructions within the faculty. Many traditional sculptures are seen all over the faculty premises.

See also University of Peradeniya

References

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