11 Notable alumni of
University of Colombo
Updated:
The University of Colombo is 2446th in the world, 605th in Asia, and 1st in Sri Lanka by aggregated alumni prominence. Below is the list of 11 notable alumni from the University of Colombo sorted by their wiki pages popularity. The directory includes famous graduates and former students along with research and academic staff.
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Kumar Sangakkara
- Occupations
- cricketer
- Biography
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Kumar Chokshanada Sangakkara is a Sri Lankan former professional cricketer who represented Sri Lanka from 2000 to 2015. A former captain in all formats. He was born in Matale, Central Province. In first-class cricket, he played for Nondescripts Cricket Club from 1997–98 to 2013–14 and for Surrey County Cricket Club from 2015 to 2017. Sangakkara is widely regarded as one of the greatest cricketers of all time. He was a key part of the Sri Lankan squads which won the 2001-02 Asian Test Championship, 2002 ICC Champions Trophy and 2014 T20 World Cup.
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Ranil Wickremesinghe
- Occupations
- lawyerpolitician
- Biography
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Ranil Wickremesinghe is a Sri Lankan politician who served as the ninth president of Sri Lanka from 2022 to 2024. Previously, he served as Prime Minister of Sri Lanka from 1993–1994, 2001–2004, 2015–2018, 2018-2019 and in 2022. He held several ministerial roles, including Minister of Finance, Minister of Defence, Minister of Technology and Minister of Women, Child Affairs and Social Empowerment. Wickremesinghe has led the United National Party (UNP) since 1994 and has been Prime Minister of Sri Lanka on six occasions.
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Lasantha Wickrematunge
- Occupations
- politicianjournalistlawyer
- Biography
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Lasantha Manilal Wickrematunge was a high-profile Sri Lankan journalist, politician, broadcaster, and human rights activist who was assassinated in January 2009.
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Jayanthi Kuru-Utumpala
- Occupations
- women's rights activistmountaineer
- Biography
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Jayanthi Kuru-Utumpala is a Sri Lankan women’s rights activist with 20 years of experience and a rock climber / mountaineer for nearly as long. She has worked at national, regional, and global levels as a technical advisor, advocate, trainer, researcher, and program manager on issues relating to gender, gender-based violence, sexuality, masculinity, women’s human rights, and more recently, women in sports. In 2016, she became the first Sri Lankan to summit Mount Everest. In recognition of this achievement, from 2016-2019 she was appointed the Goodwill Ambassador for Women's Rights by the Sri Lankan Ministry of Women's Affairs. In 2017, she was also included in the BBC’s list of 100 inspiring and influential women from around the world. In 2023, she was the recipient of the International Olympic Committee’s Gender Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Champions Award for Asia (Olympic Council of Asia) (The National Olympic Committee of Sri Lanka (NOC SL)). Since returning from Everest, she has delivered over 500 motivational speeches, to schools, universities, clubs, professional sports teams, corporate entities, government, and non-governmental organizations, as well as the military and police. She is currently the Gender and Human Rights Advisor at the Family Planning Association in Sri Lanka, working to address stigma and discrimination faced by people seeking HIV services, and is a co-creator of ‘Delete Nothing’ – a local web-based initiative aimed at addressing online gender-based violence in Sri Lanka. Jayanthi serves on several boards and is the current Chairperson of the Women and Media Collective and the International Centre for Ethnic Studies. She is also a trustee of the ‘Women of the World Foundation’, a UK-based charity. Jayanthi holds an MA in Gender Studies from the University of Sussex (UK) and a post graduate diploma in Women’s Studies from the University of Colombo. For more details, find her on LinkedIn.
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Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena
- Years
- 1945-.. (age 80)
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena is a Sri Lankan politician and land proprietor. He was the Speaker of the Parliament of Sri Lanka from 2020 to 2024.
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Sarath Gunapala
- Enrolled in the University of Colombo
- In 1979 graduated with Bachelor of Science in physics
- Occupations
- physicistengineer
- Biography
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Sri Lanka Ranajana Dr Sarath Gunapala is a solid-state physicist, senior research scientist and group supervisor at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. He works primarily in Quantum Well Infrared Photo Detecting. He is also a board member of Quantum Well Infrared Photodetector Technologies LLC. Gunapala lives in the suburbs of Los Angeles. He was born in Sri Lanka.
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Jayalath Jayawardena
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Ruban Canistus Jayalath Jayawardena MP, commonly as Jayalath Jayawardena, was a medical doctor who was elected to the Parliament of Sri Lanka for the opposition United National Party (UNP) in 1994. Jayawardena was known as a human rights activist. Jayawardena is also popular for his sheer commitment and loyalty for the UNP.
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Malaka Dewapriya
- Occupations
- screenwriterfilm directortelevision producer
- Biography
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Malaka Dewapriya (Sinhala: මාලක දේවප්රිය, IPA: [maːləkə deːʋaprijə] is a Sri Lankan film maker, visual artist, Sinhala Radio Play writer, short film and video director.
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Soundarie David Rodrigo
- Enrolled in the University of Colombo
- Graduated with bachelor's degree in jurisprudence
- Occupations
- pianist
- Biography
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Soundarie David Rodrigo is a pianist, accompanist, music director and music educationalist from Sri Lanka. She is in the panel of judges of the Sri Lanka's Got Talent originated from the Got Talent franchise and the world Choir Games She is also the founder and music director of Sri Lanka’s premier female ensemble ‘Soul Sounds’– that has performed and won at many international competitions. By being a judge at the 9th World Choir Games, she also became the first Sri Lankan to be a judge at any international musical competition.
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Nimal Bopage
- Years
- 1961-.. (age 64)
- Biography
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Bopage Nimalweera, more commonly known as Nimal Bopage (Sinhalese: නිමල් බෝපගේ, Tamil: நிமல் போபகே) is a Sri Lankan lawyer, charted accountant, auditor, civil servant, diplomat, academic and lyricist. Currently he is the additional secretary to the president of Sri Lanka and adviser to the president of Sri Lanka and the chairman of the Geological Survey and Mines Bureau and former secretary to the Ministry of Parliamentary Reforms and Mass Media in Sri Lanka and former chairman of the State Plantation Corporation of Sri Lanka.
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U. S. Jayawickrama
- Years
- 1930-.. (age 95)
- Occupations
- academic
- Biography
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Upendra Srinath Jayawickrama, is a Sri Lankan physician (endocrinologist) and an artist. He was the founder of the Diabetes Association of Sri Lanka and a professor of pharmacology at the North Colombo Medical College.
