The oldest university in Sri Lanka with academic excellence in all areas of study keeps to its motto “Wisdom Enlightens”. The University of Colombo has seven faculties with 43 academic departments, a campus, a school, and seven institutes. The University of Colombo with a proud history of over 115 years continues in its endeavour to meet the challenge of maintaining its position as the “Metropolitan University, Modern and International in Outlook and Character.” Student life is enhanced by a plethora of extra-curricular activities. The University of Colombo has a multi-ethnic student and staff population, fostering social harmony, and unity. The University has been placed within the top 1000 Universities in the World by the Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2016-2017.The Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2016-2017 list the 980 top universities in the world, making it as the biggest international league table to date. It is the only global university performance table to judge world-class universities across all of their core missions – teaching, research, knowledge transfer and international outlook. The top universities rankings use 13 carefully calibrated performance indicators to provide the most comprehensive and balanced comparisons available, which are trusted by students, academics, university leaders, industry and governments. The calculation of the rankings for 2016-2017 has been subjected to independent audit by professional services firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC). On 30th November 2016, the University of Colombo was ranked among the top 300 in the prestigious Times Higher Education BRICS & Emerging Economics Rankings 2017. The inclusion of the University of Colombo in the BRICS & Emerging Economies ranking is a significant achievement, as it indicates the University’s ranking as one of the top 300 institutions in the 50 countries included in the analysis. The ranking uses the same 13 rigorous performance indicators as the World University Rankings, examining each university’s strengths against all of its core missions – teaching, research, knowledge transfer and international outlook, with the methodology having been carefully recalibrated to better reflect the characteristics and development priorities of universities in developing economies. Being a University in one such developing country, achieving this ranking among renowned institutions worldwide is indeed a commendable feat.
