It is a longstanding dream comes true for the University of Jaffna and the people of the region with the establishment of the Faculty of Engineering. The Faculty is enrolling its first ever batch of students in 2013 and willing to serve the nation in the years to come. The campus is located in Ariviyalnagar approximately 7 km south of Killinochi.
The brief history associated with the establishment of Faculty spans for 30 years. The first proposal to establish the Faculty of Engineering was made at the Senate, University of Jaffna in 1979 and granted approval by both the Senate and the Council thereafter. A committee was appointed to explore the feasibility, which submitted a comprehensive report to the University Grants Commission (UGC) in 1980 recommending a Faculty of Engineering to be set up in Kilinochchi and be attached to the University of Jaffna. After a considerable delay UGC approved the proposal in 1988 entertaining the intake for the academic year 1991/92.
Although a number of steps were taken by the University for establishing the Faculty at Kilinochchi, it had been delayed mainly due to the isolation of Kilinochchi from the rest of the Country due to an unfavourable situation that prevailed in the region. In 2010, as the situation was improving in the region, the Senate and the Council of University of Jaffna, the UGC, the Ministry of Higher Education, the general public and professionals wanted to give top priority to the establishment of the Faculty of Engineering at Kilinochchi to fulfil the aspirations of the community. In this regard, the Senate of University of Jaffna at its 353rd meeting held on 29th October 2010 appointed a sub-committee to study and report to the Senate on the establishment of the Faculty of Engineering. The committee, considering the reports of the previous sub-committees, present trends of the Engineering Education and the Government’s commitment on restoration of normalcy and the development of the region, submitted its proposal. The Senate approved the proposal at its 357th meeting on 29th march 2011 and Council, at its 357th meeting held on 03th April 2011 decided to establish the Faculty of Engineering at Kilinochchi adjoining the Faculty of Agriculture, initially with the following departments: Department of Civil Engineering, Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Department of Computer Engineering, and Department of Inter-disciplinary Studies.
The UGC and Ministry of Higher Education had subsequently endorsed the proposal to establish the Faculty of Engineering with departments above and submitted it for Cabinet approval. The Cabinet approved the formation of the Faculty of Engineering and the Gazette notification of the same appeared on 5th December 2012. The Cabinet also approved the cabinet paper no. 12/1724/521/035 of 4th January2013.
A proposal for the faculty of Engineering to be attached to the University of Jaffna was proposed with dedication of Late Prof A. Thurairajah through the task force headed by Late Prof. T. Sivaprakasapillai with the members of Late Prof A. Thurairajah, Mr. A. Ragunathan, Dr. P. Sivaprakasapillai and Prof A. Kumar David in 1979. Then the UGC appointed committee including headed by Dr. S.M.A. Perera, with the members of Prof. C. Dahanayake, Prof. Willie Mendix, Prof. Milton Amaratunga and Vice Chancellor in 1988 recommended to set up the Faculty attached to University of Jaffna in 1988. Accordingly the UGC approved carder positions for 1 professor and 2 technical officers in 1989. Also it was planned that the Faculty of Engineering should be coming at Kilinochchi by the University of Jaffna as there was enough land and joining with Faculty of Agriculture. Prof A. Thurairajah became the Vice Chancellor of the University of Jaffna from September 1988 till March 1994. In 1990, Prof V. Navaratnarajah and two technical officers were appointed by the University to work on related matters on establishing the Faculty of Engineering. This was unable to open on-time due to the conflict situation.
In 2002, the UGC approved in principle to establish (i) Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, (ii) Department of Information and Communication Technology and (iii) Department of Inter-disciplinary studies. For further analysis, the Jaffna University senate sub-committee was appointed headed by Prof R. Kumaravadivel with the members of Mr. S. Rajadurai, Prof K. Kandasamy, Dr. S. Mahesan, Eng. R. Vijeyaratnam and Prof K. Kugabalan. This committee submitted the report in 2002 with clear information on need of the Engineering Faculty attached to the University of Jaffna indicating regional development. Further location was reconfirmed as Kilinochchi, and Departments of study was proposed as (i) Department of Civil Engineering, (ii) Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, (iii) Department of Information and Communication Technology and (iv) Department of Inter-disciplinary studies. Further building requirements and required costs were also listed according to the study done in 2002. The stages of implementation were explained in detail.
