The Faculty of Graduate Studies (FGS) was established as the fifth faculty of the University of Sri Jayewardenepura (USJP) in 1996 under the Graduate Studies Ordinance No. 3 of 1987. The mission of FGS is achieving excellence in teaching, research and scholarship in diverse fields of advanced learning, which is aligned with the University’s Vision, “Prosper Lives through Education”. With this mission, the purpose of FGS is to bring all the postgraduate research programmes of other seven faculties under its purview in order to upgrade the standards and also to allow interactive studies among different research disciplines. Accordingly, the FGS operates with nine established Study Boards, namely, Life Sciences, Physical Sciences, Management Studies and Commerce, Social Sciences, Humanities, Medical Sciences, Multidisciplinary Studies, Technology and Engineering, where the programmes span across many disciplines. Accordingly, the FGS is able to cater to the diverse needs of postgraduate students.
By actively engaging in activities aligned with its mission, the FGS intends to contribute to the national and international development. Furthermore, through postgraduate courses and research programs, the FGS intends to produce knowledgeable and skilled human resources with positive attitudes towards sustainable development. Moreover, all these programmes are aligned with national and international standards and benchmarks. By these postgraduate programmes, the students are facilitated to gain exceptional capabilities on research that is based on problem-solving via in-depth and sophisticated knowledge and know-how in relevant disciplines. The doctoral programmes offered via FGS intend to produce scholars with the capability and capacity to create futuristic advanced innovations via sophisticated and advanced expertise with a global perspective. In both teaching and learning activities, FGS engages well experienced and highly qualified staff members derived from the seven faculties, research institutes and the industry. The FGS not only provides academic courses but also facilitates to enhance skills of students on research, language and other relevant soft skills in developing holistic scholars through its skill enhancement programmes including outbound training opportunities, workshops, seminars, etc. The FGS also provide space for creativity, freedom of intellectual thought and expression, and facilitates professional growth. It also provides opportunities to engage in applied and collaborative research that can be used for nation building while supporting the fundamental and applied research, which are grounded on national priorities as well as those identified by the global community. This is further encouraged by the platform created to engage in multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary research, where FGS provides ample opportunities for national and international collaborations. FGS also attempts to build strong bridges to link the University with the wider society by promoting and driving the formation of research centres/ industrial research hubs/ incubators for the public private partnership. In addition, FGS has taken meaningful steps to communicate the findings of research to the scientific and intellectual community, policymakers and the community at large through its multidisciplinary journal, international conferences and other publications.
I strongly and fervently believe that postgraduate students of FGS will be able to produce outstanding research output by utilizing the experts, facilities and research environment of the seven faculties, which is ably facilitated by the FGS.
Prof. Rasika Perera
Dean
Faculty of Graduate Studies
University of Sri Jayewardenepura