List of University of Colombo people

Heads of state and government

• J.R. Jayawardene - former President and Prime Minister of Sri Lanka
• Gotabaya Rajapaksa - current President of Sri Lanka
• Ranil Wickramasinghe - former Prime Minister of Sri Lanka

  Prominent figures in the independence movement

• Dr Charles Alwis Hewavitharana, FRCS - leader in the independence movement

  Legislators and political figures

• Hector Abhayavardhana - Trotskyist
• A. Amirthalingam - former Opposition leader, Member of Parliament and Tamil separatist
• Hon. Tissa Attanayake - former Cabinet Minister; former Member of Parliament
• Professor Sir Nicholas Attygalle, FRCS - former President of the Senate of Ceylon, Vice-Chancellor of University of Ceylon, Dean Faculty of Medicine & Professor of Obstetrics and Gynaecology
• Hon. Ronnie De Mel, CCS - former Cabinet Minister and Member of Parliament
• Hon. William de Silva - former Cabinet Minister and Member of Parliament
• Deshamanya Neville Kanakeratne - former Governor of the Southern Province
• Hon. Anil Moonesinghe - former Cabinet Minister and Member of Parliament
• Senator Somasundaram Nadesan - former Senator
• Hon. Prof G. L. Peiris - former Cabinet Minister and Member of Parliament
• Hon. M. Sivasithamparam - former Deputy Speaker of Parliament
• Hon. Dr Tissa Vitharana - current Cabinet Minister of Science and Technology and Member of Parliament
• Hon. Dr Nissanka Wijeyeratne, CCS - former Cabinet Minister of Education, Higher Education and Justice; Member of Parliament; Sri Lankan Ambassador to the Russian Federation; former Permanent Secretary; Diyawadana Nilame of the Temple of the Tooth

  Clergy and religious figures

• Cardinal Thomas Cooray, OMI - former Archbishop of Colombo; first Cardinal from Sri Lanka
• Rt.Revd. Dr. Lakshman Wickremasinghe - Bishop of Kurunegala; youngest bishop in the Church of England

  Civil servants

• Hamilton Shirley Amerasinghe, CCS - former Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Finance & Treasury, Ministry of Health
• Deshamanya C.A. Coorey, SLAS - former Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Finance & Treasury
• Deshamanya Dr Gamani Corea - former Secretary-General of the UNCTD ; Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Planning and Economic Affairs; Senior Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Ceylon
• Tissa Devendra - former Chairman of Public Service Commission; Chairman of Salaries Commission; first President of the Colombo University Alumni Association
• Hemasiri Fernando - former Secretary to the Prime Minister
• Bernard Peiris, OBE, JP - former Cabinet Secretary
• M. J. Perera, CCS - first Chairman of the Rupavahini Corporation; former Permanent Secretary of the Education and Cultural Affairs Ministry; Vice-Chancellor of University of Peradeniya
• G.V.P. Samarasinghe, CCS - former Cabinet Secretary and Permanent Secretary of Defence and Foreign Affairs
• S.J. Walpita, CCS - former Permanent Secretary to the Ministry of Industries & Fisheries; Vice-Chancellor of University of Ceylon, Peradeniya
• Bradman Weerakoon, CCS - former Secretary to the Prime Minister

  Diplomats

• T. D. S. A. Dissanayake - former Sri Lankan Ambassador to Indonesia and Egypt
• Yogendra Duraiswamy, SLOS - former Sri Lankan diplomat
• Deshamanya Dr Vernon Mendis, SLOS - former United Nations' Special Envoy to the Middle East, Sri Lankan High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, Canada; Ambassador to USSR, Cuba and Secretary General of the Non Aligned Movement
• Daya Perera, PC - former Sri Lankan High Commissioner to Canada; Ambassador to the United Nations in New York
• Wickrema Weerasooria - former Sri Lankan High Commissioner to Australia and New Zealand; Permanent Secretary to the Ministry of Plan Implementation

  Military

• General Deshamanya Sepala Attygalle, MVO, idc, psc, SLAC - former Commander of the Sri Lankan Army and Permanent Secretary to the Ministry of Defence
• Major General Anton Muttukumaru - first Ceylonese Army officer to serve as Commander of the Ceylon Army
• Major General Dr. Chelliah Thurairaja, USP, SLMC - former Director Army Medical Services and Colonel Commandant of the Sri Lanka Army Medical Corps

  Police

• Sydney de Zoysa - former Deputy Inspector General of Police, Range II; Permanent Secretary to the Ministry of Internal Security; a leader of the attempted military coup in 1962
• C. C. Dissanayake - former Senior Deputy Inspector General of Police and a leader of the attempted military coup in 1962
• S.A. Dissanayake - former Inspector General of Police and Additional Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of External Affairs and Defence
• N. K. Illangakoon - current Inspector General of Police

  Academics

Vice Chancellors

• Professor Savitri Goonesekere - former Vice Chancellor of the University of Colombo
• Professor Kshanika Hirimburegama - current Vice Chancellor of the University of Colombo
• Professor Vidya Jyothi V. K. Samaranayake - former Dean of the Faculty of Science, University of Colombo and founder of University of Colombo School of Computing
• Professor Stanley Wijesundera - former Vice Chancellor of the University of Colombo

  Professors and scholars

• Professor Hithanadura Janaka De Silva - Foundation Professor of Medicine, University of Kelaniya; Dean of Faculty of Medicine Kelaniya
• Professor Nalin de Silva - professor in the Department of Mathematics at the University of Kelaniya
• Dr Nirmal Ranjith Dewasiri - historian and Head of the Department of History, University of Colombo
• Professor Deshamanya J B Disanayake - professor and former Head of the Department of Sinhala, University of Colombo
• Professor Devaka Fernando - Foundation Professor of Medicine, University of Sri Jayawardanapura; Visiting Professor of Endocrinology University of Newcastle upon Tyne, University of Sheffield; Honorary Professor Sheffield Hallam University
• Dr. Brendon Gooneratne - Head and Senior Lecturer, Department of Parasitology, University of Ceylon, Peradeniya
• Professor Shan Ratnam - Head of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, National University Hospital of Singapore
• Professor A. Suri Ratnapala - Professor of Law, T.C. Beirne School of Law, University of Queensland
• Professor Ediriweera Sarachchandra - playwright, novelist and poet
• Professor K. N. Seneviratne - Professor of Medicine; founder director of Sri Lanka's Postgraduate Institute of Medicine
• Professor Jayadeva Uyangoda - professor and former Head of the Department of Political Science, University of Colombo
• Dr Maitree Wickramasinghe - academic and senior lecturer at the Department of English of the University of Kelaniya
• Professor Nira Wickramasinghe - historian and Professor of Modern South Asian Studies at Leiden University in the Netherlands
• Dr Gihan Wikramanayake - Head and Senior Lecturer, Department of Information Systems Engineering of the University of Colombo School of Computing

  Artists

Novelists, poets and playwrights

• Professor Ediriweera Sarachchandra - Sri Lanka's premier playwright

  Actors

• Jackson Anthony - actor, director, singer
• Iranganie Serasinghe - actress

  Visual artists

• Malaka Dewapriya - filmmaker, short film director, video artist, radio play writer

  Judges

• Hon. Justice Saleem Marsoof - former Judge of the Supreme Court
• Hon. Justice Neville Samarakoon - former Chief Justice of Sri Lanka
• Sri Lankabhimanya Hon. Justice Christopher Weeramantry - former Judge of the International Court of Justice and the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka

  Medicine

• Professor Hithanadura Janaka De Silva - Foundation Professor of Medicine University of Kelaniya, Dean Faculty of Medicine Kelaniya
• Professor Devaka Fernando - Foundation Professor of Medicine University of Sri Jayawardanapura; Visiting Professor of Endocrinology, University of Newcastle upon Tyne, University of Sheffield; Honorary Professor, Sheffield Hallam University
• Dr Brendon Gooneratne - scholar and author
• Dr Charles Alwis Hewavitharana - independence activist
• Dr Richard Lionel Spittel, CMG, CBE - naturalist and author

  Journalists

• Regi Siriwardena - journalist and writer

  Sportsmen

• Brigadier Dr. H.I.K. Fernando - former Ceylon cricketer
• Lasantha Fernando - tennis champion and Davis Cup player
• Jehan Mubarak - cricketer
• Tambyah Murugaser - former Vice President of the Board of Control for Cricket; Sri Lanka team manager
• Dr Ajith C. S. Perera - former test-match-panel senior cricket umpire; disability activist
• Mano Ponniah - former Ceylon cricketer and member of the Cambridge eleven
• Kumar Sangakkara - captain of the Sri Lankan national cricket team

  Lawyers

• T.B. Dissanayake - former Commissioner of Assize
• Palitha Fernando, PC - current Attorney General of Sri Lanka and Judge Advocate of the Sri Lanka Navy

  Engineers

• B.D Rampala - former Chief Mechanical Engineer and General Manager of the Ceylon Government Railway

  Activists

• Rajini Thiranagama - human rights activist and feminist

  Faculty

• Professor Sir Nicholas Attygalle
• Professor Sir Charles Irwin Ball
• Professor Nalin de Silva
• Dr Nirmal Ranjith Dewasiri
• Professor Deshamanya J B Disanayake
• Professor J B Disanayake
• Professor Christie Jayaratnam Eliezer, AM
• Professor Savitri Goonesekere
• Professor Kshanika Hirimburegama
• Professor Kumari Jayawardena
• Professor Amal Jayawardane
• Professor Sir William Ivor Jennings
• Professor Kusuma Karunaratne
• Professor Sarath Kotagama
• Professor S.R. Kottegoda
• Professor Gunapala Piyasena Malalasekera
• Professor Dharmasena Pathiraja
• Professor G. L. Peiris
• Professor Vidya Jyothi V. K. Samaranayake
• Professor Ediriweera Sarachchandra
• Professor Anuradha Seneviratna
• Professor K. N. Seneviratne
• Professor Priyani Soysa
• Hedi Stadlen
• Professor Deepika Udagama
• Professor Jayadeva Uyangoda
• Professor Nira Wickramasinghe
• Professor Stanley Wijesundera